After being diagnosed with cancer, you have many things to consider and keep track of. Doctor appointments, surgeries, and dealing with medical bills and insurance companies become a full-time job. Emotional hurdles will challenge you every day as well.
Having everything piled on you at once often creates additional stress and feeling a loss of control. You may feel like life is spinning and you can’t do anything to stop it, or that you’re drowning and can’t come up for air. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to maintain some semblance of control during your journey though cancer.
1. Create something. Write a blog or journal. Share your feelings, fears, concerns, good and bad days, and everything in between either privately or publicly. Document what you’re going
through so one day you can go back and reflect on far you’ve come. Compose some music.
Document what’s going on when you create it. Paint or sculpt. Create something representing
what you’re going through. Get your family involved in a house project to gain a sense of control over what’s going on.
2. Volunteer to help cancer patients. Offer to speak to groups of patients undergoing treatment. Provide one-on-one emotional support for patients during their journey. Raise money for a cure. Find a way to feel control over your life.
3. Do something you always wanted to but never had time for. Learn how to knit or speak a
foreign language. Drive several hours to see the coast meet the mountains or the lake meet the sunset. Read the books you bought but never finished. See how many items you can check off your list. Finding ways to gain a sense of control over your life will relieve some of the stress of the unknown.
If you or someone you know is fighting cancer, reach out to Chix 4 a Cause. Learn more about our Gifts of Love program at chix4acause.org today.
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