LIfe's Obstacles Can Bring Joy
- Journalist Maria Shriver, 65, shares inspirational posts that resonate with cancer survivors.
- Shriver says that life humbles you as you age and weeds out the nonsense, which is essentially what happens for most cancer survivors … which could be a very good thing.
- Sometimes life’s darkest obstacles are preparing you for a future of fullness, which is why it is essential to be patient.
“No matter what age you are, today is your opportunity to be humbled,” Shriver wrote.
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The best-selling author and special needs activist also recently posted about experiencing joy and sadness in one day. Life’s daily rollercoaster is enhanced after a cancer diagnosis. Days can seem grim and hopeless, then you get some good news from a scan or a special note or gift from a friend, and start to feel empowered again. Acknowledging life’s ebbs and flowsespecially pertaining to canceris a healthy, realistic perspective while battling and/or overcoming the disease.
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What you’re experiencing now can be quite temporary. There’s nothing like a good night’s sleep to serve as a reset and focus on the potential abundance of what the next day has in store. Learning how to manage stress is key, and along with diet and exercise, sleep is one of the strongest elements necessary for your body and mind to handle stress.
Just have faith that brighter days are coming. In the meantime, recognize that prioritizing your life and those you choose to have in it is, in fact, a gift that people going through cancer battles sometimes realize more quickly than their healthier counterparts who could be leading quite unhealthy lives. While your physical health may be suffering, your emotional health has the ability to soar. Some days it will be the reverse. And in the meantime, just know that the obstacles you are facing may be preparing you for a future less muddled with frivolousness as you embark on the next chapter of your life.
Many cancer patients may realize that they are wasting time with a life partner whose true colors aren’t revealed until they are faced with their significant other’s cancer diagnosis. If anything, at the very least, cancer will weed out the “shitheads,” as actress Jill Kargman tells SurvivorNet. Cancer “pushes fast forward” on the relationship button to know whether or not you are truly with the person you are meant to be with.
Jill Kargman on Relationships and Cancer
Survivor Cynthia Besteman really didn't expect to get breast cancer. She had no family history, she led a really healthy lifestyle, and no one she knew had really gone through cancer before. When breast cancer was discovered during a routine mammogram, Cynthia felt like she had the wind knocked out of her. "Suddenly, it's like the building looks different and the sky looks different and your body feels different," Cynthia says. "You feel betrayed by your body."
But after getting over the initial shock, Cynthia was able to find some good in her cancer journey. "I knew I had a great family, but I didn't know how great until I got diagnosed … sometimes through the worst possible, darkest time of your life, a beautiful gift can be revealed. Look for that."
Through the Darkest Time of Your Life, a Beautiful Gift Can be Revealed
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