I was in bed nice and early tonight, with such great intentions of catching up on some sleep that I definitely missed this past weekend. But my bed-time reading sparked some thoughts, as is often the case, and instead of attempting sleep and tossing and turning all night, here I am to share my thoughts in hopes that my mind will then settle and sleep will follow.
Here are my thoughts… “life happens”, lots of times we say “shit happens”, and it does, all the time, to everyone. So because that’s the case, I feel we really should get over it and accept it, it’s inevitable. I have learned in my 26 years that life will present you with Challenges, some of them you’ll welcome and look forward to tackling, some you’ll even choose yourself, and there are others you will wish you never saw. And it is that last group that I have developed a special affinity for, while I do have a love of what I call “personally selected Challenges” (which are essentially my goals), I have been developing this special relationship with those Unexpected Challenges, or the “shit” as some would say.
I really believe Unexpected Challenges can be viewed from two main perspectives, disaster/trauma, which I can really see as often they are very very tough situations to experience, but I also believe that this type of Challenge has great Opportunity contained within. And that is where I have chosen to focus my energy when presented with major Unexpected Challenges, which has been a common theme in my life for the past few years. But before I get to looking for the Opportunity contained with my Challenges there is a very important step that is directly related to that “looking” and it is called “dealing”.
Dealing is quickly becoming one of my favourite words, and in short I believe that life, and all things in it, are meant to be dealt with, proactively handled in a way that is in our best interests, whatever we decide those to be. Technically speaking I guess you could say that no matter how someone behaves when handed a Challenge they are “dealing”, but that is not what I mean. I’m talking about constructive, proactive, Positive handling of a Challenge, which can be done a ton of ways, but I feel it’s one of the most important things we can ever do. Deal with Life, and all things in it, Positively.
Lately I have been struggling with my comfort zone, as in I’ve been in it, and while I have so very much enjoyed my summer of activity, the truth is there are some real voids that have been there for quite sometime. And they are very directly related to my Caner Challenges. When I first had the idea to start RealTime Cancer, I had no idea just how important and necessary some of my ideas were, nor did I realize that there is next to no one doing what we have just begun to do… focusing on educating and supporting young people (and not-so young people), with and without Cancer. As a young Cancer Patient I have a different set of Challenges than a child with Cancer, and than an adult with Cancer. Lately I’ve been in a comfortable place, but it’s not a place that I want to stay because the truth is it really isn’t that comfortable as it’s not what I want.
I got sick for the first time at a really interesting point in my life, I had just finished University and it was 18 months after my diagnosis before I reached a point where I was able to return to ’some’ of the social scenes I had once played in regularly, some of them, except when I went to return they had all changed. Very understandable, as life doesn’t stop, but certain parts of mine had been adjusted quite significantly. And the social side of my life has never been the same since my original diagnosis, not that I expect it to.
Just as my social circles have changed, so has my physical conditioning, both are areas of great interest to me today, and have been on my mind for the past while. I have explored the path that has gotten me where I am, and I have explored my own thoughts and feelings about where I am socially and physically, and I have determined that the best possible thing I can do for myself is to Deal. And dealing to me means getting out of my “comfort zone”, making the effort, putting my energy out, and working towards a place where I’ll be happier with both. It’s going to take effort, and there will be Challenges, but that’s what life’s all about.
Always…
Live Life. Love Life.
Geoff
