Gratitude
Since being diagnosed with bc 3 and a bit years ago, I have had to learn how to cope with some major challenges. This week I am taking part in Turia Pitt's 7 Day Champion Challenge. There are many women who have faced a bc diagnosis taking part in the free challenge. The aim is to learn how to live an 'epic' life, something Turia has first hand experience with (google her if you are not familiar with her story).
Our first challenge was to come up with 3 things that we are grateful for. Many of the people taking part have also faced huge challenges in their life. What Turia and many of us have found is that before you are really challenged with something major (like a life-threatening event or illness) you just don't think about how many terrific things you have to be grateful for.
Then BOOM! Your life is changed in an instant and suddenly you wonder if you are going to ever get through this challenge and get back to all those ordinary things that you now have a new appreciation of.
During the long months of treatment I did learn to be very grateful for what I called 'the small things'. I was grateful on the days when my eyes did not hurt from chemo effects, grateful when the nausea eased, grateful when my taste buds returned, grateful when I could get out and have a coffee with a friend and I could go on and on.
What most people have found (I think there are over 4000 of us doing the challenge) is that is actually really hard to just stop at 3 things that we are grateful for!
My 3 things were:
1. Surviving bc.
2. Having the support of family and friends.
3. Recovering and becoming fit enough to trek to Everest Base Camp this year and raise money for the Cancer Council with the support of family and friends.
There are so many tough times in all our lives (not just the bc tough times) but thinking about what we are grateful for can help us live the best life possible, even when the going is tough! That is something worthwhile, something I want to get better at. Reading the responses of others has been very uplifting and thought provoking, so I thought I'd share this idea on here. Don't feel you have to stop at 3 
Comments
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Hi Deanne - what a great experience! I have seen stories on Turia and it is astounding what happened to her. She is a source of inspiration!
As to what we come to realise and become grateful about - what an open ended question! This journey certainly makes you take a seat and say hey it doesn't matter that the floor needs mopping and it is more important that the day is beautiful or crappy as we are here enjoying it!
As I go through the journey I have been so focussed on medical appointments and being strong in mind to get through that now it is at this stage I find a little bit of reflection brings about tears, not of pity, but of being grateful that I was detected and put through the wringer of appointments and tests and here to tell the tale. Mind you some appointments are more yucky than others but we get through them!
I had a friend, Ros, who fought hard but lost the fight, it has been 10 years. She used to run trivia nights in Brisbane, we attended in 2005 http://www.legendstrivia.com.au/thinkpinktrivianight.html
Grateful for all the fund raisers that fund research.
Grateful for all the choices that we are offered.
Personally, grateful for the love and support of my husband.
Grateful for the wonderful organisations that spring up to help breast cancer patients, such as BCNA, Otis Foundation, Think Pink, Look Good Feel Better, McGrath foundation, Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF)...........the list is endless
You take care and have a great week
Christine xx
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I agree finding only three things to be grateful for is hard, I am grateful for a whole list of things, including my husband who has been a wonderful support, my adult children, also wonderful support, some great supportive friends, great doctors and nurses, breast screen Australia for finding my cancer early, much better medical treatment than ever before, living in a comfortable house close to hospitals and doctors, having enough money not to have to worry about it, my children being grown up, not having to care for elderly relatives, my iPad which has kept me company through this, the many support groups and kind people I have met on the way, not caring about losing my hair, having a quite good prognosis, I could go on.
hopefully I won't ever take these people and things for granted again.
good luck, Karen
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Hey Deanne this is a good post as today I had lunch with a friend of mine who is going through a tough time with her husband who has parkinson and dementia. Even when she was struggling she was there for me, and I could be there for her sometimes just to listen. We sat there talking about how our lives have changed in such a short time. We are both so grateful for the support we have both had and talked about how different things now are.. On the top of our lists was support from family and friends and being able to laugh at things when it gets tough.
My 3 things are
Support, Laughing and my husband
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Sorry to hear about your friend. A friend who was a terrific support when I was diagnosed (at the time she was 10 years clear from her bc diagnosis) has recently been diagnosed with secondaries in her spine. Makes me very aware of the need for more fundraising and research into a cure. Also the need to appreciate every day that we are well. She is grateful that at the moment her treatment has just been radiation and now tamoxifen.
I am so grateful for the improvements to treatment that mean my chances of remaining cancer free are so much better than they would have been 20 years ago. I hope that the next generation face even better situations.
So agree with being grateful for the choices we have now and all the wonderful hubbies out there, mine too!
xxx
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Wow, what a great list. Thanks for sharing them, they have reminded me of many things I am grateful for too!
xxx
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Sounds like you have really been there for each other! Laughter is the best therapy isn't it? Without a sense of humour where would be?
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A wonderful post that encourages us for a time to reflect on what is important to us.....I hope that many "newbies" read this and know that through all the surgeries and treatments that feel like they go on forever that we manage to find happiness out of a crappy situation! I am very grateful for:
Family and Friends
The Medicare system with all my wonderful doctors and nurses
And the inner peace that I feel within myself to be accepting of the way I look and feel and the way I see and respond to others.....as you really never know what is going on in somebody elses life.....
And the ability to keep smiling ??
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Love that one about inner peace! Beautifully put
xxx0
