Florence Strang is a licensed psychologist who is being treated for a 3-stage breast cancer. She worked for nearly twenty years in the field of educational psychology, and received training in horticulture therapy, meditation, Reiki, and Angel therapy. Florence enjoys gardening, camping, meditation and writing. After her treatments, she plans to embark on a new career as coach of breast cancer, with a focus on the positive attitude as an essential component of recovery. You can find his blog at www.perksofcancer.com
In April 2011, I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. Like most people when diagnosed with a terminal illness, I experienced the typical stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I can almost pinpoint the exact moment that I transitioned from depression to acceptance. It was a beautiful day in October, six months after my initial diagnosis, and my body was under assault from a difficult round of chemotherapy. I was lying in bed, looking through the window upstairs that my mother collected the last of the summer tomatoes in my greenhouse. It saddened me that I was not there with her, enjoying the sun and reap the fruits of my labor. Life seemed so unfair.
While wallowing in self-pity, I came to an important achievement. It suddenly dawned on me that feeling sorry for myself was not going to help me get better. As a psychologist, I knew that positive emotions such as happiness and joy to help boost the immune system and improve healing. Negative emotions, such as anger and depression on the other hand, have been proven to suppress the immune system. Since I need a healthy immune system to fight against cancer, a positive attitude was vital to my recovery!
I am convinced that the cancer was not so bad, hey it even had its advantages. For example, since a cancer, not once I have to help them with big family dinners dishes. This thought made me smile, and immediately I felt a little better. Then I issued myself a challenge :. If finding an advantage can bring a smile to my face, I would find 100 benefits of having a cancer, and thus was born a blog
Blogging benefits cancer has contributed to helping me maintain a positive attitude through my journey with cancer. My blogging experience helped me recognize two distinct schools of thought when it comes to dealing with a cancer diagnosis. In one camp are those who choose to focus on the pain, suffering and total devastation that is cancer. There is no denying that few things in life can rival a cancer diagnosis for the award of cancer brings with it the terror of facing a premature death "worst thing that can happen to you."; uncomfortable and painful treatments and procedures; loss of identity; struggling with a new body image; strained relations; and of financial or ruin. This is the reality of cancer.
But for some wealthy people, cancer brings with it a different reality. When faced with their mortality, some people come to realize what is really important in life, and then go to make life-altering changes. I'm one of those fortunate people. What gifts Cancer gave me
- Perk # 13 :. Cancer strengthened my self-esteem
- Perk # 21: Cancer helped me to find my soul mate
- Perk # 25: .. Cancer I connected to a powerful prayer network
- Perk # 28: Having cancer has revealed a whole new side of my son with autism
- Perk # 34: .. cancer made me realize my own strength
Having cancer forced me to evaluate my life and do some major changes. I finished some relationships that do not serve me well, and put more of my energy into those. I identified toxic work environments, and embraced a change in my career. I began to feed my body only nutritious food, and did the exercise and meditation an important part of my day. Ironic as it may seem, this last year with cancer was one of the happiest of my life.
Did I give my cancer? Absolutely, in a heartbeat! However, I would not part with the changes that cancer forced me to do in my life. Some say only positive attitude can not cure cancer. I agree. However, a positive attitude combined with a positive action will give me the best chance of surviving the disease. If I live another forty years, it will be wonderful if I can look back on this year and say that I have lived with happiness, joy and grace. If I am only one year, then it is even more important that I am able to say I lived that way. For this reason, I choose to fight against cancer with attitude -. "? Perk From Cancer". A positive attitude
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