Definitely yes to cancer creating an odd sense of purpose and meaning out of survival, and a strange sense of direction although this did not occur to me until after. Like Karen, it feels good to hear someone else say it. I'm trying to work out what this translates to long term.
I’m glad and thanks for reading. I know it can feel different during treatment but good to hear there’s others out there, maybe once there’s been enough distance.
As a person whose life feels blown up by cancer, I really appreciate your perspective and am going to spend some time chewing on this idea of how cancer can "help" reorient your life and what those benefits might be for each individual.
(Also I read the article you posted, and it's interesting, but as a mental health professional I felt like part of it came across as judgy and ableist because not everyone has access to people IRL and sharing online is the only way for some people to feel and find connections. And hopefully over the course of a life, we learn and grow and evolve as people and how we are in the world, and these days part of that might happen in the questionable spaces of social media platforms.)
I can see that. Some of the proof to what you’re saying is us connecting here. Less people irl would talk/share so seamlessly like this, which is great.
Elliott - great writing! Harvard did a 25-year longitudinal study of their graduates and found that those who had goals (even if those goals changed) were, by every measure of success, more successful than those who didn’t. I am pretty sure life itself wasn’t a measure, but you are living proof that goals are good 🙂
Definitely yes to cancer creating an odd sense of purpose and meaning out of survival, and a strange sense of direction although this did not occur to me until after. Like Karen, it feels good to hear someone else say it. I'm trying to work out what this translates to long term.
I’m glad and thanks for reading. I know it can feel different during treatment but good to hear there’s others out there, maybe once there’s been enough distance.
Thanks for writing this. Now I don't feel like such a freak when I mention the ways cancer has enriched my life.
It can feel odd to say but the truth is how you feel so… So be it.
As a person whose life feels blown up by cancer, I really appreciate your perspective and am going to spend some time chewing on this idea of how cancer can "help" reorient your life and what those benefits might be for each individual.
(Also I read the article you posted, and it's interesting, but as a mental health professional I felt like part of it came across as judgy and ableist because not everyone has access to people IRL and sharing online is the only way for some people to feel and find connections. And hopefully over the course of a life, we learn and grow and evolve as people and how we are in the world, and these days part of that might happen in the questionable spaces of social media platforms.)
I can see that. Some of the proof to what you’re saying is us connecting here. Less people irl would talk/share so seamlessly like this, which is great.
Elliott - great writing! Harvard did a 25-year longitudinal study of their graduates and found that those who had goals (even if those goals changed) were, by every measure of success, more successful than those who didn’t. I am pretty sure life itself wasn’t a measure, but you are living proof that goals are good 🙂
Thanks for the kind words Lessly. It's a lofty goal but I'm glad that Harvard science has me backed up! Appreciate you taking the time to read.