5 Things I Learned from Having Cancer

Not everyone is lucky enough to get –and beat– cancer in their early 30’s. Sound like a strange thing to say? I don’t think it is. Let me explain why.

I’d been feeling low-energy for a few months, and had been getting crazy 4-day-long crippling migraines. That, coupled with an itchy rash that kept me up all night every night scratching, had me feeling like I was in my early 80’s, not my early 30’s. I went to see doctor after doctor who prescribed various pharmaceuticals that did nothing to make me feel better — or only helped temporarily. Two doctors even insisted that I had “chronic Lyme Disease” and tried to get me to go on aggressive courses of antibiotics (which I declined, I’m happy to say).

Finally, after over a year of this, I learned that I’d have to take my health into my own hands if I was to get better, and I started doing a ton of online research. I’d like to say it was me who figured out that I had cancer, but it was, in fact, my mother’s startlingly effective research skills that cracked this case almost a year and a half after I first got sick, and started me on my long journey of recovery.

Here are five reasons why –although having cancer was certainly a harrowing experience not only for me, but for my family– I actually feel lucky to have gone through it:

Always focus on the silver lining

The most important skill I gained from being sick is the ability to see the silver lining in everything. All bad things will pass — eventually. If you look hard enough, you can pull a longer-lasting lesson, appreciation, or some sort of value from every bad thing that’s happened to you. The trick is to focus on that lesson instead of the hurt, and try to see the bad thing that happened as valuable, because of it. I promise, it makes life a lot easier. Positive thinking changes your reality and  health.

‘The real voyage of discovery consists not only in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.’
-Marcel Proust

Good friends will be there for you in hard times

Having cancer helped teach me who my real friends are — and it surprised me. I got to see who checked in to see how I was doing, and who didn’t. It wasn’t always who I expected.

Love is invaluable

After listening to an audiobook called Radical Remission, and hearing cancer survivor’s stories, I learned that the people who survived had one thing in common: the support of close friends. I would add pets and family to that. Basically — love. In fact, the more true friends they saw regularly, the better off they were health-wise. Love fills life with meaning. It gives us a subconscious reason to live. So I’ve learned to spend less time working and more time talking to my family and hanging with friends. Yes, even if it’s raining or cold outside.

Don’t derive your identity from your accomplishments

When I got sick I realized, sadly, that if I died I would eventually be forgotten and my work-related accomplishments in life would mean very little in the grand scheme of things. I asked myself: if I thought I had one year left in my life, would I regret spending it working? The answer: Hell, yes! So I slowed it all down and started to focus on having more me-time.

Once I separated my identity from my work, I came to the conclusion that what’s really important is having enough money to get by (and pay for medical bills!), and beyond that it’s really all about trying to be happy and have purpose (importantly, healthy people have purpose outside of their own needs and spend time giving back). In other words, do what you can to make a positive difference in the world while you can, and don’t associate personal value with work.

What you eat, drink and smell really  does matter

During my quest to figure out that age-old question of “WHY ME?!”, I learned quite a lot about health. I learned that in the USA there are almost zero protections in place to keep us healthy. That means that what you put on your skin and in your mouth needs to be regulated by YOU. Because knowing what’s in your food, what a GMO is and why organic is so much better, why sugar is bad for you, what those chemicals are in your skin cream –and making smart choices based on that– just might save your life someday.

On that note, check these articles out to learn more:

• Are There Toxins in Your Cosmetics?
• Chemical Detox Tips: 10 Toxic Products in Your Home
• Is Any Plastic Safe?
• Guide to Non-Toxic Dry Cleaning
• Your Nail Polish Could Kill You