Lessons learned from cancer patients...

*disclaimer... I haven't had cancer, I'm just speaking from an outsider looking in. That may mean I am wrong about some stuff. Happy for feedback, and with only the upmost respect that I write this*

I'm young. And like everybody else I am not getting any younger. When I take risks now (like skateboarding fast down a hill) I do so with only the confidence that income protection insurance can provide. I have found myself starting sentences with words like "I remember" and "the first people who did that song...". I am conscious of my sense of aging, and the perceived decline in opportunity as time passes, although I readily acknowledge that this is my perception. I, like many thousands of people around the world work in the health system, often with the most vulnerable people. The cancer world has been my home now for 5 years or so, and in that time I have been afforded some of life's greatest lessons, with thanks to the unfortunate people who are indiscrimatley targeted by the insidiousness of cancer. Some of these people have been very young, some very old, some sad, some anxious and all just trying to manage the best they can. So when I wake thinking about dentists bills, worries about responsibilities, that next birthday I remind myself of this stuff...

Lessons taken from cancer patients (well for me anyway)
- it doesn't matter how much money, property, fame or people you have. it's the relationships we have that matter, not "stuff".
- investing time in joy, not worry, regret or over-thinking seems to be a good way to live.
- everyone has an innate fear of their own mortality, but when the time comes, our brains support us.
- cancer mirrors life. The people I expect not to touch me at all, are the ones who touch me the most, often without warning and with much surprise.
- tomorrow may not be as you think.

The selfishness that I take from the privilege of being engaged with people at the most vulnerable of times is that of sacred time. Before I entered this world I was all about tomorrow, like a parent, I would use the expression "one day" often. Many of the people I meet talk about regrets, wishes and should have dones. I am not talking about recklessness, instead about engagement. Sitting in the sun, going to the drinks you are dreading, contacting old friends and lovers, learning new things and spending time to just be. For me, there has never been a better sentiment than "life is fleeting". Not just because of cancer in our world, but all of the other stuff.


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