No one has a cancer rule-book or ‘How-to do cancer’ guide. It’s individual, your own manuscript and your own narrative.
I do what I do because my mantras and messages work for me. They could work for you too, at least some of them might and I’d like to think one or two will apply.
My Cancer Commandments are the things I say to myself in order to help me dynamically manage the disease and enjoy some element of control.
They are not in any particular order and the list is by no means a complete one – I could add more and will!
My personal favourite is Number 15: Be the plot twist
I particularly like this one because this is another way of saying be the one that beats the odds, the one that takes the system by surprise. You are the unexpected, the statistical anomaly, the underdog and the one, on paper, that shouldn’t be here but you are!
My Cancer Commandments are commandments that don’t just have to align to cancer either. They might apply to another disease or just rules for general healthy living.
My Cancer Commandments:
- Do not feel like you have to be ‘brave’ 24/7
- Kick up a ruckus & self-advocate when the system lets you down
- Ignore cuckoo ‘cures’ – block the snake oil salesman, swindlers and hucksters
- If your progress today is one millimetre, that’s still progress
- Avoid judging your cancer timeline by comparing it to others
- Grace and dignity always
- Actively research your own disease – patient, know thyself
- Find happiness in the ordinary, everyday and unexceptional
- Do what it takes and then some
- Don’t yield, remain resolute, broadcast hope and optimism
- There is no right way to live – focus on your own existence
- Breathe possibility
- Be a juggernaut in your appetite to survive and fight for every inch
- Smile when it’s grim and adapt
- Be the plot twist
- Run your own marathon
- Exhibit a ‘Find-A-Way’ and ‘Can-Do’ Attitude