It Took Me a Very Long Time to Feel Like Myself Again — And That’s OK

We spend a lot of time talking to survivors who tell us that cancer changed them. A lot of times, it’s for the better. But that doesn’t mean the journey to that good place is easy. Not at all. Carrie Kreiswirth says that she was a really social person before she was diagnosed with breast cancer. But when she was going through chemo, she says she felt like she lost a part of herself. “I was a very social person, but became a bit of a recluse at that time,” Carrie says. “It took me a very long time to start feeling like myself again. Longer than I care to admit.”

Carrie says that going through cancer alone was really difficult, but dating kind of took a back seat to getting healthy during treatment. “I think for me it took so long to accept my new body the way that it was, the way that it is, that to then show that — to literally expose myself to someone else — is something that I haven’t necessarily felt completely ready for. But I am rounding that corner, and I am more open to dating.”