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AYA Cancer
Is it up or down from here?
Is it up or down from here? Think of a physical rollercoaster for a moment. Now, I will be the first to admit – I am terrified of rollercoasters, and rollercoasters are a trigger for my anxiety, but for this article rollercoasters provide the best analogy. If someone invites me to the fair or amusement […]
Read More...Grief as an Oak Tree
When your mother is in the world, I liken it to standing under a great oak. The branches are a canopy of safety from the harsh elements; it has always been there and feels like it will always be there…
Read More...A Life Without Parents
Have you ever wondered what life would be like without parents? A harsh reality for many people out there. Yes, we are born from an egg and sperm, from a female and male. Yes, these are our biological parents, but are they the ones that make us who we are today?
Read More...Reflections: One Year Into My Journey
“I feel alone when I’m surrounded by friends…” That song lyric sticks out so much for me now. Even though this song was written about love and had nothing to do with cancer, this particular lyric can ring true for a person going through cancer.
Read More...When Cancer Stole My Voice, Mindset Helped Me Find It
Talking about mindset feels like a minefield when it comes to cancer survivorship, but I’m going to do it anyway. In a world where we as cancer patients and survivors are constantly bombarded with toxic positivity and sentiments such as “Just Stay Positive” or “Everything Happens for a Reason,” the one suggestion that felt somewhat helpful to me (relatively speaking) was to “Take Things One Day at a Time.”
Read More...Secret Side Effects
Today my right, big toenail fell off. I had just given our new puppy, Lola, a bath, when I felt a catching sensation of my bare foot on the carpet. I pulled my foot out from under me to see that the toenail had lifted. ‘Great!’ I thought, as I rolled my eyes to myself.
Read More...Untangling Survivorship Together
At the end of May 2005, my boyfriend Andrew was diagnosed with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia (ALL). He was twenty-two years old. I was twenty-three. Of all the things we were supposed to worry about in our early twenties, cancer was not supposed to be one of them.
Read More...Notes on Mindfulness
A few years ago, if you said the word mindfulness, my eyes would roll so hard they would end up in the back of my head. Especially since the most anxious person in the world, my father, is the one who suggested mindfulness meditation to me.
Read More...On Feeling Un-F***ed with Mindfulness
I just got back from co-leading a mindfulness in nature retreat in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a group of eight incredible young adult women from across the country who didn’t know each other before they arrived, but are all card-carrying members of the same exclusive club to which none of them wants to belong.
Read More...Mindfulness Takes Center Stage
It’s raining right now, and you’d think this would be the perfect atmosphere to write this piece. I have soft, relaxing music playing, and I can hear the pitter patter of the rain outside. Despite all this, I find writing this to be extremely difficult. I’m not used to reading my own work aloud, and the idea of doing so makes me second guess each sentence I type out.
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