Michael Holtz
MEET THE WOLFPACK - Q&A
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🔸 Name: Michael Holtz
🔸 Age: 56
🔸 Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
🔸 Occupation: Senior Communications & Marketing Specialist
🔸 Cancer Type: 11-year survivor of stage IIIB rectal cancer
Q: The Man Up to Cancer motto is OPEN HEART, WARRIOR SPIRIT. Which side of your personality could use more growth?
A: Honestly, both aspects could use more growth for similar reasons. When I open my heart to someone, my heart is wide open. I wear my heart on my sleeves, so my emotions are palpable. When I love someone, even platonically, I am all in and I am unabashed in expressing my feelings. But not everyone’s heart has been where mine has, so I need to be more protective.
Similarly, I can go all Alpha Wolf with my warrior side to protect and stand up for other people, but I give short shrift to myself until I push myself to the brink and realize I need to take care of me and mine while I’m also taking care of and standing up for others.
Q: What are your top tools for coping with the psychological impacts of cancer (i.e. anxiety, depression, anger, isolation, etc.)?
A: Exercise is a big one for me. Nothing chases the negative emotions away like throwing around some iron or wearing myself out on the elliptical machine. Reaching out to and spending time with friends, even if over Zoom, is another big one. The occasional bourbon neat or bourbon cocktail (an Old Fashioned, preferably) doesn’t hurt either.
Q: What’s one thing you know now, but wish you had learned earlier in the journey?
A: For me, learning the power of being present in the moment, paying attention to the gifts that are around us on a daily basis — the colors of the sunrise, the sound of my wife’s giggle, the sigh of my contented dog — and expressing gratitude for those things was life changing. It still takes practice but when I stop in the midst of chaos to see or listen for something I’m otherwise missing, can stop the chaos if only for a moment.
Q: If you could pick a “handle” for your wolf identity, what would it be, and why?
A. My handle would be Quiet Storm, I think. I have always tended to listen more than I speak and to be observant of everything around me. For a large man, I am very soft spoken most of the time. When I get my back up or speak loudly, people pay attention.
Michael Holtz (right) with his good friend Ryan Vieth at the 2023 Gathering of Wolves retreat
