Recovering Well is a process rather than something that is done once and then finished with. Throughout this process there will be ups and downs, and you may well get frustrated and just plain sick of it all along the way. Unlike chemotherapy or radiotherapy that often have a set amount of treatments, recovering well is a continual process of supporting yourself and your health.
A cancer diagnosis is a shock, with ongoing high stress, medical intervention that can cause all kinds of side effects and generally mess you up (chemo has a well earned reputation) PLUS everything that was already going on in your life. It’s a lot. There’s an additional mental load that needs to be carried in some way.
I have noticed that I am far more conscious of the need to take care of myself than I was before all my treatments.There are more symptoms, appointments, more schedule-load and mental-load that there was before I was diagnosed with cancer. Even after all the active treatments are completed. I have had to allow life to be “bigger” to include more care of myself. One practical example is that I have a morning “warm up” which incorporates all the remedial/ therapeutic exercises that are now in my best interests to do to keep myself flexible and mobile rather than allow my surgery scars to lead to less movement and therefore restrictions in my range of motion.
With any long process, especially one that has it’s ups and downs, celebrating success keeps focus, perspective and motivation.
If you have ever had a headache, or similar pain, think back. When did it start? When did it end? Were you conscious of the headache going or did you just happen to notice after a while that you no longer had a headache?
It’s really common in a follow-up consultation with someone for them to say, “well it helped with a symptom (i.e. I am sleeping a bit better) but I haven’t noticed anything else”. When asked how the symptoms they couldn’t stop talking about in previous consultation are they give a vague “oh, I don’t have that anymore”. It’s as if I am bringing up some tiny insignificant symptom that they barely noticed!
I have talked to other practitioners about this phenomenon and I have been the person opposite a practitioner being asked about a symptom I had forgotten I had when I saw them last (even though it was the main reason I went to them in the first place!).
Once our pressing symptoms have gone we tend to forget about them, and this means we can overlook the improvements we have made and the value of the effort we are putting in.
While recovering, and making improvements to your health habits, and taking care of yourself you need to have celebration points. In the words of Ferris Bueller “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you couldn’t miss it”. I know that’s a movie, but it’s a classic quote from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off because it’s so relatable.
If you are going to stop and look around, why not look for the good things? The exercise that you did today. That you made a home cooked nutritious meal that was delicious even though you felt tired and wanted to just eat junk food. Celebrate the healthy choices that you make. Celebrate the achievements you can manage (even if it’s objectively a small step like walking just a little further than you could yesterday).
If celebrating your success is a new habit for you - I suggest you make a set time each day to reflect on what went well today and if you are open to journaling, write it down. You will quickly have collated a heap of successes to celebrate, and you will be focussing on what you CAN do and allowing yourself to enjoy, if not the whole journey, at least moments everyday.
Success might be that you drank an extra glass of water, or remembered to exercise, or could walk for an extra 5 minutes. Celebrate that you are “successfully” in the process of recovering well.
As a naturopath I called my business Anewable, because I wanted to promote the process of taking what is good and improving, keeping going and growing, and taking care of yourself. If you would like the support of individual naturopathic consultations you as you make changes towards healthier habits, you can contact me at Amanda@anewable.co.nz
I have found with the people that I help that using minerals gives us a strong foundation to work with.
On a personal level I am extremely grateful for the support of minerals!!
When you start to think in a downward spiral, or become distracted or focussing on negative “unwanted” thoughts - of the past, the present or the future you simply tell your brain “Useful Thoughts Only”
The trick is catching yourself in the act, but I suspect you may have a few (or even many) opportunities each day to practice this technique. The great thing is, even if you realise after quite a while that you have been riding the unhelpful thought train, you can stop at any time and tell yourself - USEFUL THOUGHTS ONLY.
