The cancer is both very real and very surreal right now

The cancer is both very real and very surreal right now

Last week was my full-out “cancerversary.” It’s been a year since my “everything-ectomy” and the diagnosis. A year since I first heard someone say to me, “As someone who has cancer…” (The attending doctor was explaining that, as someone who had cancer and some other...
I’m letting go of my deeply engrained guilt

I’m letting go of my deeply engrained guilt

Perhaps there’s something about being raised in a cult that carves guilt and shame deeply into one’s psyche. (Trust me there is.) Perhaps it’s something that many, if not all, of us have had inflicted into us, one way or another. Either way, I am realizing more and...
How can I have even more (self) compassion?

How can I have even more (self) compassion?

I feel like a broken record as I write, again, that healing is not linear and now can be hard. I’m tired of feeling that way, and I’m tired of writing that. I could clearly have even more self-compassion. So many of us have been so conditioned to push ourselves...
I know how to soothe my heart

I know how to soothe my heart

Today is a hurting day. Wish it wasn’t, but it is. They happen. Wish they didn’t, but they do. I’m doing my best to do the hurting days differently. To love and care for myself beyond measure. To do all I can to soothe my heart. I know how to soothe my heart. I know...