Everyone knows the things about themselves that make them feel inadequate or less than others. While for each person it is different, the effect it can have on your mind, mood and reaction to things are generally the same.
After surviving cancer those issues can multiply. The side effects of treatment will leave you a different person, mentally and often even physically. Worries and concerns you didn’t have before treatment will surface.
MANY FACTORS
Survivors react to these changes in many different ways. For some they can feel guilt or a certain discomfort talking about those issues because they worry that others will think they aren’t happy to have survived. This is especially true when they are around current patients that are dealing with life and death issues. The same worries occur even if their prognosis is hopeful.
WHAT TO DO?
It’s always much easier to give advice than to take it. Human beings already deal with a series of emotional, physical and financial worries that make them feel inadequate. Being a survivor, I try to deal with my issues the best I can. Others that love me give advice and try their best to support me the best they can. However, these scars will never go away. They can make me want to give up and die on some days. On my best days, they make me want to run away by myself so I don’t have to burden anyone else.
What usually helps ground me back to functioning normally is that I don’t have a choice. If I ever want to be the person God created me to be, I need to understand my limits, while devastating to me, are not something that defines my worth. Always remember that it can be worse and to try to make the best of what you CAN do. While the battle never is fully won, you can daily victories.
Whether you believe in God or not, He did not create you to be afraid. It says in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” If you don’t believe in God, understand that you matter and your life can still be a source of inspiration to others.
Please reach out to me or anyone else if you feel anxious, sad or depressed. We are all here to help each other.
God Bless
NEXT BLOG DATE: Monday, July 15, 2019