Weekly Round Up: The Love Conquers Edition

Time 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.

I want to start with a warm welcome back to the blogosphere to Beth Gainer with some happy news.

We’ve become so familiar with those phrases, such as “battles lost with cancer”, that are a mainstay of so many announcements of cancer deaths (see Liz’s latest blog) but this week Nancy tackles the coy phrases around death itself, which she also finds irksome.

I’ve been following Elizabeth‘s preparations for her forthcoming trip to Thailand and Cambodia, and I am almost as excited as she is! I am particularly impressed with her packing prowess, something I still haven’t managed to get down to a fine art yet, despite my own extensive travelling.

Renee writes about a side-effect of cancer that no one seems to warn us about:

No one ever explained to me that dealing with breast cancer could lead to depression and/or PTSD. I am  not sure why I would need to be told this? I guess I thought I had seen others do it and I thought, why the hell couldn’t I do it too?

And on a similar theme, Carrie has been experiencing some panic attacks lately, while Rosemary has also been writing about the lingering side-effects of treatment. You might also like to read Stephanie‘s post on digging out from the aftermath of cancer.

Someone who is digging out from cancer, and taking to her bike is Maureen, who has signed up to cycle 100 miles on July 30th in aid of the UK breast cancer research charity, Breast Cancer Now.

I’m a real stickler for politeness and courtesy, so Lisa Thompson‘s  post really resonated with me when I read it this week.

Catherine‘s writing continues to captivate and delight me. Go read her latest 1 am musings.

I felt deep anger and frustration reading Beth Caldwell‘s latest post on the politics and failings of breast cancer advocacy.

Terri shares some of the sights, sounds, and tastes of the post-surgery experience in hospital.

Finally this week, I leave you with a wonderful image from Julia Barnickle, a painting entitled “Love Conquers”, her submission for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Isn’t it stunning!

“Love Conquers” – original artwork by Julia Barnickle

Here’s how Julia describes it on her blog.

I had been feeling overwhelmed with all the negative news posts in my Facebook feed. I haven’t watched the TV news or bought newspapers for several years, so I usually try to keep up to date with what’s important via Facebook – but since the start of 2017 it’s been one bad news story after another.

I wanted to counteract the negativity through art.

Spreading love, one heart at a time.

Until next week.

Here’s to spreading love

Marie xxx