August 2018

Sometimes we feel invisible. Facing daily challenges when others expect us to be “healed”, “cancer-free” , or “all better”.

Check in with yourself – this is the time of harvesting the first fruits and veggies of the summer. The time of barbeques, friendly get-togethers, and family reunions. We’ll expose ourselves to the sun and the expectations of others. Write a check-in regarding your plans for summer: are you ready for summer? What are you looking forward to and what makes you apprehensive?

In the beginning – these family events can be really triggering and make us face memories of our diagnosis and fears of reoccurrence.

Prompt 1: Write about how you learned about and shared your diagnosis with family and friends. What was their response? What are some examples of “good and bad” advice”? How did this make you feel? How did it influence your way of thinking? What is some good advice you “harvested” and what is some bad advice you “threw to the compost”?

Prompt 2: Today, how do you deal with family and friends? How do you share your life and changes with family and friends? What boundaries did you set in the beginning that have changed?