Cancer And Stubborn Optimism

The will to live is a force to be reckoned with.

It’s as stubborn as a mule and refuses to budge.

It digs its heels in, doesn’t follow the textbook and enjoys beating the odds.

When you have cancer or are recovering from it, you have to be stubborn.

Well, you don’t have to be but it certainly helps.

Cancer messes with you so you have to mess with it and that starts with being awkward.

Set your stall out early doors and refuse to accept that cancer is going to stop you.

It won’t.

• It won’t if you stubbornly refuse to be a victim.
• It won’t if you stubbornly refuse to feel sorry for yourself.
• It won’t if you stubbornly refuse to roll over.

This is having dogged determination to keep going.

It means refusing to budge from this world because here is where you belong and you’ve got plenty more life in you yet.

It’s about being purposeful and the purpose is to survive, to keep living and to meet things head-on.

If you aren’t stubborn already then it means re-inventing yourself as persistent, resolute and tenacious.

Finding your stubborn streak won’t be difficult though because if you want to live then you aren’t just going to succumb, you are going to do what you can to throw a spanner in the works.

Stubbornness doesn’t have to be aggressive or angry either.

Stubbornness for me means being supremely optimistic and positive every day and never losing my smile.

Being stubborn as a cancer patient isn’t about throwing a tantrum, kicking and screaming on the floor.

It’s being graceful under attack, standing your ground and holding the line.

Don’t accept everything that is thrown at you, become a fully paid-up member of the Stubborn Optimists Club.

What does that involve?

It means being unyielding, positively obstinate, gritty, and being pro-active with a stubborn heart.

Here are 10 questions asked upon entry to the Stubborn Optimists Club.

I have included my own responses for guidance:

1. Can you persevere in the face of adversity? Yes, I can do that.
2. Will you set your mind on getting better? Yes, I will do everything I can to help.
3. Are you headstrong and unshakeable? You bet.
4. Do you promise to never lose heart? Never!
5. Are you prepared to be a poster child for grit and persistence? Just watch me!
6. Will you remain unfazed by obstacles and setbacks? Nothing will stop me.
7. Do you agree to be tremendously resilient at all times? I do.
8. Do you promise you will not apologise for being a stubborn optimist? I do. I’m going to celebrate it.
9. Can you bounce back without bitterness and plaster a smile on your face to show the world you mean business? That’s a given.
10. Will you embrace a lifetime of being a stubborn optimist? For as long as I live.

Being optimistically stubborn and stubbornly optimistic will be the thing that will keep you going.

Being stubborn has power.

Your stubbornness can save you!

Stubborn optimism is a personal choice. Give it a go – what’s the worse thing that could happen?