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The Hard Truth About Making a New Start

...What's "getting back to normal," exactly?

 

So you've finished your cancer treatment, and you're back into "real" life again. But maybe - just maybe - it doesn't feel like YOUR life anymore. You thought this would be a fresh start, but you mostly feel stuck and scared and sad and just... bogged down

Well, if that's day-to-day life for you, it doesn't make you weak. And you're not the only one.

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Not by a long shot.

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You're one of the many, many cancer survivors asking questions on forums and to other survivors they meet. Questions that usually start the same way.

 

"Am I the only one who..." (Insert universal cancer survivor problem here.)

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We all face these challenges in a unique way. I can't compare my experience to yours, and you can't compare yours to mine.

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This website is a place to ask those questions and hopefully get some answers.

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You'll find courses, share and read cancer survivor stories, and run into some inspirational ideas that will encourage you.

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Hopefully, you'll encounter ideas and tools that will help you build inner strength.

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So you can have a life filled with meaning, purpose and maybe even a little joy - even if cancer will always be a part of it.

resilience has three pieces. It's the ability to take a hit, to bounce back, and to grow f

Photo: Anastasia Ahuravleva at Pexels.com

Resilience:
brace yourself, get back up, grow.

In the face of the huge challenges we face after cancer treatment, we have two options:

 

We can give up.

 

Or, we can keep pushing forward one step at a time, imagining a tomorrow that's filled with meaning and purpose. Dwelling on the good we have, not the good we've lost.

Maybe that sounds like a fist full of social media memes, but it's all true.

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What is resilience? It has three parts:

  1. Taking the hit. You build up your emotional and physical strength so the hard stuff doesn’t knock you over

  2. Getting back up. Realistically, you’re going to get knocked down at some point, no matter how strong you are. You can build up the skills to recover and move on when that happens

  3. Growing. You can move beyond just being able to react to the tough stuff when it hits you. You can become a new, stronger, wiser person. It’s called post-traumatic growth - the ability to learn from our tough experiences - and it’s the ultimate prize for the cancer survivor.

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Resilience doesn't have to be a natural part of your personality. You can learn the resilience skills and a mindset that is specific to living a good life now that cancer is in it.

So take a look through the site. Read some blog posts. Check out the Cancer Survivor's Resilience Mindset course. The site will keep growing over time, with more features for and by cancer survivors. And keep an eye out for Powerful Words: Telling Your Cancer Story, coming soon.

Brad Thiessen, the Curious Survivor, is an author, speaker and 3-time cancer survivor
Brad Thiessen built up his resilience after cancer by spending tim trail running 2

After my third cancer treatment in 2016, I knew I had to do some major self-work to make sense of the experience and keep from growing bitter. I set out to complete a 50k (31 mile) trail run nine months after my last chemo pill, and had an award-winning short film made about it, called Proof of Life.

Brad Thiessen

Cancer survivor resilience coach, public speaker and resource to oncology providers

I've had cancer three times. I’ve had nine brain surgeries, two brain infections, and an operation that removed the top layer of my lat muscle and grafted it onto my skull. And I almost died from a freak case of hydrocephalus.

I've had to relearn how to walk again, how to cook and even how to play simple children's board games.

But here I am. My oncologist called me Miracle Man. My neurologist says I shouldn't be able to walk, let alone run. My neurosurgeon said sitting and talking with me was like seeing Lazarus risen from the dead.

After all this, I've made it my life's work to learn all I can from experts about all the pieces of resilience and apply their ideas to the cancer survivor experience.

I want to help cancer survivors move forward with the new challenges they face. I want to help oncology providers understand what their patients go through when treatment is over. And I want to bring my story and these resilience concepts to others through public speaking and workshops, to inspire them so they can live life with more energy, optimism and purpose.

*NOTE ON THERAPY VS COACHING: The content on this site and in all courses is for coaching purposes only, to help you use your strengths to move forward. It is not designed or intended to diagnose or treat mental health issues you are experiencing now or in the past. If you have chronic ongoing emotional or mental health challenges, you may want to engage the services of a licensed mental health counselor. A list of counselors is available on the therapist directory at psychologytoday.com. Online counseling services are also widely available via the internet.

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