Getting a grip

This is for all the newbies out there. I remember what it was like to be in the shock and awe stage of the disease, the time right after diagnosis when it all seemed like a bad dream. With that in mind, I wrote an article for CLL Topics called "Getting a Grip."

I believe now, as I wrote then, that it is essential to get a grip on the emotional and spiritual aspects of having cancer before you can fight it most effectively. Decisions made in panic, or out of fear, or wishful thinking, are not usually good decisions. And being whipsawed by anxiety and despair is no way to greet the morning every day for the rest of your life.

In the article, I detail a number of strategies, some very simple, that can start you on the road to becoming less upset and more assured. These are things that worked for me, and they may or may not work for you, but it might be worth a read. Here's the link:

http://www.clltopics.org/PatCor/gettingagrip.htm

One of these days I will write something here called "Keeping a Grip." Now that I'm two-and-a-half years out from diagnosis, I have settled into the living-with-it phase. It still takes work sometimes to keep a centered perspective. But, dear newbies, life goes on. If you can get to the point where you enjoy life more because you appreciate it more than you did before your diagnosis, you have found an unexpected silver lining in this experience.

There is beauty, even in winter: