The Second Battle: Rebuilding After Cancer

We spend more than a year—sometimes even longer—fighting every day for our lives through cancer. Then, in remission, our bodies remain on high alert, bracing for the next blow. The stress and fear feel unending. How do we escape that cycle? Does it call for an entirely different set of mental and emotional skills, things our brain has never tapped into? Does it mean accepting a reality we never imagined? We’ve forgotten how to shift from survival mode back to equilibrium, to a place where we can begin to build a life that feels like our own again.

We’ve transformed ourselves before, moving from childhood to adulthood, evolving through different versions of ourselves, trying on new identities with ease and curiosity. But now, we’re asked to adapt to a life we didn’t choose. This time, it’s cancer that chose us, bringing irreversible change. The treatments did what they were supposed to do, but we’re left with a distant memory of who we once were—a life without neuropathy, digestive issues, or without unpredictable and painful bowels, and devoid of fear…crippling, consuming fear.

How do we flip the narrative and start building our new selves? I believe it requires skills I don’t yet have, and I know it’s not a journey I can undertake alone. It took a village the first time…I think it’s time to find my new village.