So I won’t really be able to share all that I learned during my cancer journey in two short posts but I’m hoping to share a few things I learned that might have an impact for you. And maybe get you thinking.
Things change immediately once you get the news. Yes, immediately. Well that’s what happened for me anyway. Both times my doctor told me it was cancer.
The doctor gave me the news and then I needed to make a choice, well many choices actually. I had to choose how I was going to respond and what I was going to do.
Now admittedly I wasn’t at my best at this time of crisis. Makes sense right? So many of us aren’t in these types of situations. But, you and I need to be able to do the best with what we have and where we are when these things happen. Since it’s very likely that in these times and these moments we will not be at our best. But that can be very difficult, to do our best.
This was a situation like what so many of us face in our lives. It was difficult but how it would play out would be determined to a significant degree by me. What I did. How I responded to the difficult place I was in.
The decisions I made right after the doctor gave me the news, the decisions I made throughout the next year during treatment and the decisions I have made since then have had a great impact on me. Mentally and physically.
I was put into a circumstance that no one wants to be in. In the midst of that circumstance, I had to make decisions and do certain things. The choices I made at that time really mattered.
What I learned is something that so many people learn in so many different situations. It matters what you do or don’t do. Very logical, I know.
I didn’t fully realize the scope of what I was choosing. I didn’t realize just how long term the consequences would be. I won’t share specifics but I made some pretty big decisions in the midst of this crisis that I am still working through and struggling with now, today. I wish I wouldn’t have made some of those choices I made.
It makes sense that would happen. When you and I deal with anything in our lives we won’t get everything right every time. What is right anyway? Right for me isn’t right for you. So it can be like calculated decisions with half of the equation missing. Without all of the parts of the equation you might not get to the “right” answer.
What I learned going through this is that what I do really matters. It really matters in the moment and it can really matter years down the road. So I try to have that perspective about things that cross over in different parts of my life.
Now I won’t claim to have figured this all out or that I have gotten every decision right since then. But I am so grateful that I went through something that helped me learn a lesson that was much bigger than the circumstance I was in.
I learned a lesson that continues to carry me through the rest of my life. To think broader than the moment you are in. Now friend, even as we learn lessons we will make mistakes and oh boy I still make mistakes on this one. Even then, I will continue to think with a broader and future perspective on some of the most critical decisions I make in the most critical times.
Friend, maybe you can relate to this. I will be praying for you to have a wider perspective on the decisions that you make and how that will affect your life.
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Melodee Glassford 