Weekly Round Up

by

girl_with_lassoTime for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I’ve wanted to share with you. Don’t forget if you have written a post which you would like readers to see, just leave a comment below.

The WEGO Health Activist Writer’s Month continues to yield great writing – check out the contributions by The Pink Underbelly, Yvonne Watterson, Audrey Birt and Renn.

Katie is struggling with a question that we all have faced/are facing at some point in our journey with cancer: who am I without cancer? This is a common feeling post cancer, which as we know is an unsettling time for many survivors. Our cancer story doesn’t end the day our treatment ends (and for some the treatment goes on) and this is a theme movingly taken up by Susan on her blog this week also.

If Katie was hoping for a epiphany after her recent trip to Delhi with A Fresh Chapter, then Terri has some words of wisdom for her – and for the rest of us.

Epiphanies don’t happen in real life like they do in the movies. There is no perfect moment of clarity where everything messy in your life gets resolved and you are never un-happy, lonely, or searching for direction again.

I love Terri’s reminder that life doesn’t reveal itself to us in earth shattering moments of clarity but in the small moments that if we are not careful we can miss.

One of the most common fears we face as cancer survivors is the fear of recurrence, and this is a fear being faced right now by Yvonne Newbold who is writing about it in her blog Adventures With Breast Cancer.

Nancy is weighing in on the language of cancer –  “always a hot topic in Cancer Land”  – and indeed it’s a hot topic too this week on The Cancer Curmudgeon’s blog and for Scorchy, aka The Sarcastic Boob who writes:

Those of us with cancer have to grow a skin that is thicker than normal.  Wanting those who would not normally have a care in the world about cancer to stop and consider how we feel is normal; expecting them to do so is Utopian.

I enjoyed following AnneMarie’s tweets from the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting and now that she is back home, she has written a review of what she learned and who she met on her trip.

Diane and her gorgeous Golden Retriever, Arson, are celebrating a win this week, reminding us that amidst our times of pain and struggle there are still times and things worth celebrating.

Beth is extolling the joys of visiting a bookstore with her daughter.

Victoria is feeling “cautiously optimistic” this week after some follow-up testing.

Paying tribute to carers is the topic in Chris’s Cancer Community blog this week.

“How do you know it’s time to stop enduring and face the unknown?” This is the question posed by Debbie and her answer?

Simple. When the fear of “having to change” becomes less awful than the hell you are living, you are ready.

And if you want some more guidance on this, check out Pasha’s latest blog about change and moving forward.

At the beginning we don’t have to move ahead fearlessly. We can move ahead with our legs trembling, and with our arms outstretched, looking for the nearest compassionate witness to call upon for encouragement. What is important is that we take the first step and keep going.
Until next week.

Yours with love

Marie xxx

Category : Round-Up
Tags : , , , , ,