Cancer - How to Cope
Life is like a roller coaster at your local fun fair, but when you have cancer you seem to go up a league and find yourself on one of those massive roller coasters in the major amusement parks. You know the ones - the ones with names like Gravity Max, Goliath or Oblivion - for the brave, adrenaline junkies or as Steve calls them 'Nutters.'
Advertising phrases such as "Brace yourself for death-defying thrills when you board the world’s scariest roller coasters" seem to resonate with the feelings involved when being told you have cancer.
A few thundering turns on a roller coaster set off a chemical reaction—the release of adrenaline and dopamine—that makes us feel giddy and intensely alive. These might be useful in fighting cancer?
The roller coasters continue to push the extremes of acceleration, speed, and corkscrew-like inversions. It can feel like this is happening to you and your life as everyone gathers around you and you contemplate your journey ahead.
A memorably scary coaster gets inside your head, employing suspense, the element of surprise, and the illusion of fragility. As Rutherford says, “You have no choice but to let go, to surrender to the ride.” Sound familiar to those fighting cancer today?
Accepting that you may be in for a scary ride, will face new fears and new (maybe stomach churning) experiences is one step to making it easier to face. Once you are on the roller coaster of cancer, you have to keep going till you can get off. So, open you eyes to see those around you, embrace the joyous feeling of being alive when it comes and see the world from this new perspective. Keep looking ahead. When you finally get off your roller coaster, you may be wobbly, feel sick and disorientated, but you can punch the air and shout, "I did it!"
More and more people are surviving cancer today. Know you are all in my prayers for a safe return and to having your feet planted firmly back to the ground.
BUY Nipples to Kneecaps - to die or not to die with cancer
