Like so many of us, I was an innocent bystander when I was hit by the truck of a cancer diagnosis in 2009.
At the same time I was leaving a career as a journalist at The Grand Rapids Press and Mlive.com, I was diagnosed with a cancer I’d never heard of: follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma. I chose the most aggressive treatment path and joined a clinical trial, which put me into a complete remission as of September 16, 2010.
Nothing unique about being diagnosed and treated for cancer. Thousands, if not millions of us, have been there, done that … and may well again.
My remission could go on 10 more minutes – or 10 years.
Living on the edge — knowing the sleeping beast within could stir at any time — forces the likes of me to confront a big one:
How do we live in the here and now, instead of in constant fear of the when and if?
Do we have a choice?
Almost 8 years out of cancer’s starting gate, I can answer yes, no question.
Being a quote junkie helps me focus on my todays.
Maybe this one will help you, too:
“We cannot control what happens to us, but we can choose how we respond to it. Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of human freedoms— to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
— Dr. Viktor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning.”
or this from Sister Sue Tracy on her blog, toodooloosue.com:
“Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, “I think I’ll squeeze those dangly things here and drink whatever comes out?”
First rule: Always leave ’em laughing.
