Y'all, I had an anniversary this past Friday that I'm still wondering how I should mark. I've only thought about it in passing a few times, over the past few days.
I've never been very good at these sorts of things — finding meaningful ways to ritualize/honor birthdays... or anniversaries... or other events/memories.
Anyway, there's this:
On September 12th, 2022, I received a diagnosis that turned my world upside down: invasive ductal carcinoma. Breast cancer.
Diagnosis Day, I call it.
This past Friday was three years later, to the day.
I can hardly believe how different my life is now than it was before that date.
You know how people talk about certain life events that create a before/after effect? Yeah. This is that.
I'm still here in the same body (thank goodness!).
But that body got pretty darn banged up by multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, all the other medications I'm still on, etc.
My energy? My spirit? My mind/heart?
In a TOTALLY different place than they were then.
For the better. Thank goodness.
I guess saying it out loud here is one meaningful way to mark it.
And I'll share a few things with you:
➡️ I want you to know that it's true what they say: things that we might immediately code as "bad," when they happen to us, are not necessarily going to be that when all the dust settles. I can honestly say that there is SO much good that has come from that diagnosis... and I remember how much I once doubted that would ever be true.
➡️ If you have breasts, please go for your annual scans. The advice has changed, just in the last few years. They are seeing this diagnosis show up at much younger ages than it used to. Now you should start at 40 years old — or earlier, if you're high-risk.
If you are not high-risk, mammograms will suffice. If you ARE high-risk (and if you are a young adult, as in early 20s, you should be getting an assessment to see if you are), you may need to have some regular MRIs or other scans too.
I had not yet started regular scans when I was diagnosed, and I wonder how much less intense my treatment experience would have been (probably a heckuva lot less intense) if we had found it earlier. Early detection matters.
➡️ I know this is considered gauche in our dominant culture, and I'm gonna say it anyway: don't live as if you're running from your mortality.
Give your mortality an honored seat, near the front of your consciousness. These lives of ours are exceedingly fragile — more fragile than any of us want to admit or consider. They can end in an instant, at any moment.
Please stop wasting your time and energy on things that don't really matter — not really. Please start living every day as if you're actively creating your legacy here on earth — because you are. Please honor the beauty and joy of every part of your life — even the parts that seem "bad."
Because, chances are, even those will seem "good" eventually.
These lives of ours are a gift.
Are you feeling that truth today?
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