When “Switch-Off” TV Stops You in Your Tracks

When “Switch-Off” TV Stops You in Your Tracks

I sat down recently to watch Married at First Sight Australia for what it is known for—easy watching, a distraction, something to switch off to.

Car crash TV.

The kind where you leave your brain—and your worries—outside the door.

But this time, I didn’t.

Because as I watched, I became acutely aware that Mel Schilling—one of the experts on the show—had been living with cancer during filming. And now, she’s gone. Sadly she died in the last few weeks & there was lots of memorial pieces in the last few episode.

I didn’t know Mel Schilling personally.

But I recognised her.

A woman still showing, working, laughing still being present and living her life.

All while carrying cancer quietly in the background.

Like so many people do. Like so many of us.

And that’s the part that stopped me.

Because the reality of cancer isn’t always what people expect it to be. It doesn’t always look like illness in the way we imagine. It often looks like life continuing—meetings attended, children cared for, conversations had, moments lived, laughter, fun, moving forward, goal setting, joy, hope!

Until sometimes… it doesn’t.

The Truth We Don’t Always Say Out Loud

Cancer doesn’t just affect people.It interrupts lives.

It takes mothers away artners, friends, colleagues.It takes people who are in the middle of living.

And if I’m honest, that makes me feel a lot of things.

It makes me feel sad & scared. And it makes me feel angry because this disease takes far too many people and so much, far too soon.

There’s no neat way to package that. No way to soften it.

But alongside that anger, something else rose up in me as a reminder: Gratitude.

Gratitude for the treatments that exist today, for the research that continues to evolve.
For the fundraisers and advocates who push things forward.
For the medical teams working tirelessly behind the scenes.

Because of them, people like me are still here. That awareness always changes something.

It doesn’t take away the fear or the anger or fear, it sits beside it. It walks alongside me. My companion.

What also rose up in that moment was something deeper. Determination.

To keep going. To live fully & try to make the most of this life.

Because when you see someone living with cancer—and then learn that they didn’t make it—it sharpens your awareness of just how fragile life is.

And also how precious it is.

I didn't expect to find meaning in moments like these while watching car crash reality TV. But that doesn't mean it can't happen, sometimes life doesn’t wait for the “right” setting to remind us of what matters.

It just taps you on the shoulder.

And when it does, you have a choice.

You can turn away. Or you can listen.

Today, I’m Listening to this unexpected reminder!

I’m listening to the reminder that life is happening now, it isn’t guaranteed. That it is, in many ways, unpredictable and unfair.

But also… that it is still mine to live.

I’m still here.
So I will live.