Write your life stories down and keep them, burn them, eat them, or publish them, but write them down because there are others who could benefit from your words of wisdom.
This month I’m focusing on creativity and I decided to start with writing because people love a good story. You may choose to write your life stories in poems or prose, haiku, short-form, or long-form, but just the act of writing can be helpful in so many ways. The following are my takeaways from the podcast episode. Maybe you’ll find more, and I invite you to share them.
Don’t settle for less than a full work up.
Breast cancer can seemingly come out of nowhere. You may not feel any symptoms at all.
Even if you’re young without a family history and feeling perfectly well, you should still do a full examination and due diligence to make sure you get the right diagnosis.
You are more than your medical record.
Your stories are important and healing, both for you and those you share them with. Putting your story into words can be cathartic for you and help others heal too. You are more than your medical chart. Who were you before the diagnosis and who are you becoming?
“I’m still here and I have a big story to tell.”
~ April Stearns
Whatever big thing happened to you, what was your transformation afterward?
The ones who understand you best, have already been there.
Finding your tribe, those who are your community, is powerful. There is strength in numbers and knowing there are others just like you to lean on for accountability and understanding.
When you write your life stories you find others with similar paths, who have stood where you’re standing. It can also help you see things from a different perspective and gain some clarity.
“Once you learn the fragility of your body you can never un-know it.”
~ April Stearns
Writing your life stories can be healing and transformative.
Getting your thoughts onto paper is healing and transformative. The work happens just by the act of writing, it doesn’t need to go anywhere. Along with writing down your thoughts, developing a gratitude practice can help you realize and release memories and other thoughts. Gratitude can be for little things, not just big ones.
How you feel about your cancer experience is very personal. Not everyone identifies with the warrior mentality. And that’s okay. I chose to send myself love on all levels. For many a cancer diagnosis is a wake-up call to live their life differently. For others it brings out strength they didn’t know they had. Still for others it can be both.
Writing can help you process what you’re feeling, what you’re going through, and gives you a way to reconnect with yourself and your body again.
Highlights from this episode include:
- 2:05 April’s cancer experience and celebrating nine years cancer-free!
- 7:14 Seeing a new world and dealing with cancer again.
- 9:55 Re-evaluating work, life, and what made April feel fulfilled.
- 13:00 Sharing and receiving stories.
- 19:35 Creating the things we need most.
- 21:08 Living your transformation.
- 22:25 You can’t unsee what you’ve seen and you’re not alone.
- 23:44 Writing as a healing tool.
- 25:38 April’s journaling practice.
- 28:30 Prompts for writing.
- 31:00 The messages received after diagnosis and during treatment.
- 34:17 Anger and the warrior mentality.
- 38:56 The disconnect between language, reality, and your medical chart.
- 40:30 You have more control over your story than you think you do.
- 41:58 Writing for those who have can relate and going deeper into your story.
- 44:19 Nutrition and lifestyle factors.
- 46:38 April’s personal care routine.
Links Mentioned in this podcast:
A new episode is released every second and fourth Thursday of each month.
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