Next Thursday I am speaking at the Downeast Living with Cancer Conference, a free conference for people diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones set in beautiful Bar Harbor. My focus is on the psychology of cancer, which I’m so excited to be talking about.
As you and I both know, cancer is more than a medical problem. Yet trying to understand the variety of ways cancer impacts you mentally and emotionally is not neatly packaged as we might like it to be.
It’s difficult to take action to address something that is ambiguous. That’s why I am pumped about giving this talk. If you can’t make it next week, I am planning to offer an online option in December… so stay tuned.
In the meantime, I’d like to leave you with these thoughts to munch on about why it’s so important to take time to figure out cancer’s impact on you.
Who you are is an ever evolving process. It’s something that lasts your entire lifetime. This evolution requires you to continuously work to understand how your life experiences influence how you see yourself.
Cancer forces you to confront the four universal fears. Understanding the psychological impact of cancer is imperative to your evolution process. Without knowledge, you’re ability to move forward will be compromised by the fears and judgment that serve to protect you from dealing directly with the uncertainty cancer brings. Yet, judgement and fear will not to resolve the uncertainty, they will contribute to suffering.
Having context gives you the foundation you need to move forward in your evolution. Without it you’ll stagnate. You deserve to live as well as you can for as long as you can, so look for those opportunities that can bring you greater understanding and compassion for yourself and for others.
If you want to go to the conference next week, there’s still time to register and it’s free. Click on this link and you can sign up.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you’ve learned about the psychology of cancer. Let’s talk about it in the comments below!
-Stephanie McLeod-Estevez, LCPC, is an art therapist and breast cancer survivor, and a former oncology counselor at the Dempsey Center. She began Creative Transformations to help others who are healing emotionally from cancer. Through Creative Transformations, she works with people in person and online to offer the self assessment tool, cancer coaching, an Art as Therapy program,virtual workshops, and this weekly blog. Sign up today so you never miss a blog and find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.