Learning From Cancer, From Survivor To Thriver

Cancer can be a door to greater health and life-affirming well beings. While not the easiest way to discover additional meaning and joy in life, the experience of cancer can certainly take us there if we allow it to. Life after cancer treatment is typically radically different than it was before cancer diagnosis. In addition to the direct challenges of the disease and its treatments, many other issues surface.

People who have had cancer often experience a prolonged feeling of loss of control, which, in turn, can create anxiety and depression. The fear of recurrence can settle itself like a gremlin on the shoulder of the most confident survivor. Even after successful treatment, a cancer survivor's emotional states spin from hope to despair, gratitude to rage, confidence to fear. There may be financial challenges, relationship and intimacy issues, and career disruptions. All of these issues are real and without a magic fix. Without some attention paid to these issues, any physical healing will be incomplete and fragile. How people tackle the myriad of challenges faced after cancer is unique to each person. Successful strategies include psychotherapy, support groups, vacations, radical life changes, reprioritization of values, and daily healing activities. Whatever the solution, the cancer thriver must make time to heal. Healing on this level can, in turn, deliver a dimension of wellness never before experienced. Herein lies the gift of cancer.

Surviving cancer and its treatment is no small feat. Cancer is a formidable illness and its treatments are among the most taxing in all of medicine. Emerging from this experience is something that every survivor should feel both proud about and grateful for. Turning this experience into one that enriches our lives with added clarity of purpose and wonderment allows us to accept cancer as a teacher. Cancer is not an easy teacher, but its lessons are valuable nonetheless. Whatever we each learn from our experience with this disease is uniquely ours. The willingness to let this disease transform our lives so that we honor and cherish life even more fully makes us more than survivors - it turns us into thrivers. We thrive on the feast of life, cherishing each and every morsel.