Grateful: Show me your gratitude.

Cancer is a sh*tter, there’s no 2 ways about it. When given a diagnosis of cancer, everyone thinks differently, feels differently and behaves differently. That’s completely normal and totally fine.

I went from upset, to angry, to thankful, to upset, to happy, to angry and round and round again and again and still do on occasion.

A diagnosis is likely to make you and your loved ones feel all the feels, and hey, that’s A okay.

Feel them, don’t fight them.

Whenever you feel ready, willing and able a gratitude diary has been shown to improve your quality of life (see study here). People with breast cancer wrote down what they were grateful for on a daily basis and it helped improve their mood, made them feel more supported and they were able to use coping strategies to manage their mental health more effectively.

All of these benefits from writing down a few words or lines a day? Sign me up!

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So what is gratitude?

It’s the quality of being thankful, the readiness to show appreciation and return kindness.

We normally think of this in the context of others, being grateful for a gift or for help. But you can also be grateful for yourself, your strengths, appreciating what you’re able to do. Recognising that you’re freaking awesome, and thanking yourself for that!

Here are some things I’ve been grateful for during this time;

For my friends sending regular texts, either to check in or just updating me on their lives.
That at times, I’m still able to do yoga, even if just a gentle stretch.
I have a supportive family.
I was able to go for a walk today.
My sister’s dog, who loves me unconditionally.

You can write whatever the heck you want. It is YOUR diary/journal.

You can think them and not write them down but writing them down is meant to be better, something about putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard.

There are loads of gratitude journals you can buy and tons of apps you can use. I used a notebook that one of my wonderful friends bought me when I was first diagnosed (she’s a psychologist and told me that writing things down might be helpful, she knows what she’s talking about - thanks Ellie!).

You might not always feel grateful and think this is stupid, airy fairy, wishy washy, flowery, dumb etc etc. BUT I’d encourage you to try and do it if you feel able, it just might help.

It’s definitely not something I find easy. One of my friends messaged me every day to tell me 3 things she was grateful for. This helped me to stick to it, even when I didn’t feel grateful for sh*t (thanks Suzi).