A cancer diagnosis turns our lives upside down. How to respond to the verdict of doctors? How to learn to listen to your body? Our heroine, who recovered from breast cancer, shares her thoughts.
If you think about major changes in your life, then a change of profession will come to your mind rather than a cancer diagnosis. This is exactly what turns life upside down. My name is Maria and my main job today is to be a cancer survivor.
Among my friends and relatives, the word «cancer» is as familiar as «pot» or «sill». We can easily joke about this topic. But every time I talk about my diagnosis to a new acquaintance, I get the same reaction — people completely forget what they wanted to say.
I immediately see eyes full of fear in front of me. And you must be a little nervous right now, right? This is a completely understandable reaction, because we are talking about a very sensitive topic for many.
The fact is that in the XNUMXst century, no one knows exactly how to react when they get cancer.
Almost no one understands what to do or how to react when their relative, friend, colleague gets cancer. We are all paralyzed by fear, which kills much faster than any disease. That’s why I dream of creating a cancer free culture.
Now I want to invite you to take three simple steps. For a start face your fear and let it be. Try to slow down a bit, take a deep breath, feel your body, feel the present moment. And answer yourself a simple question: do you know how much you have left to live? Think about it. None of us know how long we have left to live, right?
When you don’t know how much time we have left to live, we think we have all the time in the world. We have time to quarrel with loved ones. We have time to pretend to be something we are not. We have time for work that we don’t want to do. We can afford to waste time, because we have nowhere to hurry.
And if you now feel even a slight resistance to my words, take another deep breath and realize that this is the very moment that does not allow you to let go of fear.
When I was diagnosed, my first reaction was to blame everyone: my parents for the wrong genes, the environment, the food, the government, even God.
But then I thought: “Okay, let’s say they are to blame. Suppose it was they who forced me not to take care of my health, not to choose healthy relationships with people, not to get rid of resentment and fears. But how exactly will this help me heal? How exactly does blaming someone help you not die of cancer?”
I said to myself: «Mashenka, you did this to yourself.» And this second step Take responsibility for everything that happens in your life. As soon as you do this, you will feel an incredible surge of energy for change. Take a deep breath right now and feel that power, the certainty that you can change your life.
Then, as a journalist and filmmaker, I paid attention to the words and images that we create: «Cancer Day», «deadly disease», «sentence» — feel how much pain and fear in them. We call the cure for cancer—chemotherapy—poison and at the same time expect it to help. Is it logical? So I gratefully started taking the treatment. I imagined myself somewhere by the sea, receiving love and healing in my veins. Love and healing, but not poison.
Was I scared? Undoubtedly
Fear is exactly the same emotion as, for example, joy. I felt fear, like any living being, but I did my best not to let it control me. Fear kills faster than disease. The best gift we can give ourselves and doctors is to make friends with fear. Make friends with the diagnosis.
Now do third step. Take a deep breath and realize that we always get what we give. If we start fighting cancer, guess what happens? Cancer starts to fight us. I have seen it many times. By declaring war on the tumor, we are actually declaring war on ourselves. My tumor was inside me, it was part of my body — in the truest sense of the word. So why should I fight my own body? Why should I fight myself? Wouldn’t it be better to talk to your body and find out what it’s trying to say?
Feel your body now and allow yourself to hear it. Keep breathing and feel where your fear is
I believe that cancer comes to tell us something. He seems to be saying, “Look how you don’t love yourself. How do you live someone else’s life, live without joy and pleasure. Yes, you can call these reflections banal and obvious, but still you continue to fight, not live. “Wake up,” the disease continues. — Hear yourself, your real desires, your soul and your body. And don’t stop breathing.»