Cancer And Free-Range Optimism

I recently posted on Twitter that I was a free-range optimist and so in reply to Victor Perton this is what I believe this entails.

For as long as I’ve known myself, I’ve always been an optimist.

I’d like to add that I am an incurable optimist too and considering I’m living with incurable cancer, that’s not a bad trait to have! There’s nothing like a stark awareness of your own mortality to wake up the sleeping warriors of hope, courage and optimism inside your soul.

You might imagine that optimism and incurable cancer don’t really go together but they do. If anything, a serious illness unlocks uncertainty and unleashes new possibilities.

I also describe myself as a full-time ‘Free-Range Optimist’ (FRO) because I allow my mind to roam free and peck at the positives wherever I can find them. Being an organic optimist means my spirit can wander unfettered despite my incurable diagnosis and the constraints that go with it. Things may be bad but they’re always looking up.

How I react to the life sentence of ‘incurable’ is a choice. I can be imprisoned by it or liberated by it. Clearly, being a FRO means my choice is an easy one because I choose to free myself which means I get to enjoy unlimited hope and endless endurance with a calmness of mind.

Free-range optimists are force multipliers.

FROs get their mind food where they can. It’s a wayfaring and spontaneous optimism that thrives on the unknown and the unpredictable where risk-taking is a daily act of survival.

This organic brand of optimism is the freest ranging there is, a raw and sustainable optimism without mental fencing. We can’t thrive in an environment where we are tightly controlled. And what’s the one environment that can lock us inside day and night? Our mind.

But not if you are a FRO.

FROs nip at crumbs of positivity, tap at scraps hope and jab at granules of gorgeousness if the opportunities present themselves. Cancer means you take what you can.

And opportunities do present themselves because something always turns up. FROs are inherently hopeful, it’s at the very core of their being.

FROs are fiercely independent mavericks and threshold adventurers who don’t go looking for happiness. They know they’ll stumble across it at some point. They have a genuine excitement for life from the moment they wake up and can’t wait to get up and at ’em.

FROs pack a motivational punch unlike any other optimist. They are all round happier chickens.

FROs don’t let others dictate what the happiness and positivity look like because they write and narrate their own version of events.

They build realities on their own terms and reject labels and ‘types’ of optimism, preferring to dip in and out of dispositions as they see fit because they are free to do so. They become robust, resilient and radiant thanks to the freedom they create for themselves.

This self-empowering freedom and fulfilment strengthens confidence and allows them to strut their stuff. This explains why they don’t obsess over the meaning of life but focus on the meaning in life. They know that hope resides within.  As Viktor Frankl said, “The meaning of life is to give life meaning.”

Being a FRO means you are an organic optimist and you come and go as you please – there are no limits. A FRO is allowed to walk on the grass without penalty. If they get to a road with a ‘No Entry’ sign, they know that they can fly over it if they want to.

They reject conditioned beliefs of life with limitations and their mindsets are packed full of Vitamin R (risk) and flexibility. They are adaptive and capable of responding to environmental changes through positive risk-taking.

Space is for living which is why a FRO will find living space in every situation. There are even positives to be found in the toxic wastelands of cancer treatment.

They actively roam into wide open spaces but they also like to explore some narrow ones and take a good look around the nooks and crannies of life as you never know what shreds of hope you might find. They look at the space above them too and find plenty of reasons to be cheerful up there as well.

FROs aren’t cooped up in their thinking and they are not cooped up indoors either. They love to be out there in the fresh air in nature because it oxygenates their thinking and let’s their minds breathe. Being in the outdoors is what drives organic and original thinking. They roll up their sleeves and aren’t afraid to get dirty.

Thinking organically creates mind space, it avoids negative thinking, promotes hope-mongering and fosters future-casting. This is thinking that looks for the best things and looks for the best in people by subtracting all the artificial and toxic mental additives.

From a medical point of view, cancer can be a prison house of misery but organic optimism gives you the freedom to go beyond the bars and the walls to live a better quality of life.

Free-range optimism and positive living boost your ‘jolly’ quotient and make you a healthier and happier human!

In today’s VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, we need more FROs with the organic thinking to think on their feet and embrace dynamism and change. For cancer survival, FRO is a must-have.