Someone asked me today about why I have a breast cancer blog and how it has helped me stay positive and get through all the fun associated with breast cancer. (No breast cancer is not fun, but I wanted a word other than “stuff”.)

Writing a breast cancer experience blog is like journaling to an extent.  Journaling is a powerful tool.  It helps you get things out and free yourself from them.

However, staying positive while fighting breast cancer is a personal choice that stems far beyond a mere blog.  That I feel is a life choice. Do I want to live or die? Do I want to thrive or exist? I wanted to live and thrive.

I started my blog to help people not feel so alone.  Getting a breast cancer diagnosis is a very alone feeling. Millions of people get cancer diagnoses, but when it happens to you it makes you feel small, isolated, and alone. You can either let those feelings swallow you up or you can work to defeat them.  I like to write, so this blog became a tool in my toolbox.

I also started my blog so people in my life knew how I was doing during treatment.  It can be exhausting telling people over and over about this.

What happened that floored me when I started this blog is I connected with so many amazing people and continue to do so today.

I chose how I was going to face this disease and stuck to it.   I chose to be positive and realistic. Being positive is healthy.  Am I positive every day? No, and I have had my down days. But the down days have not swallowed me up.  I won’t allow it in the long run. Wallowing gets old…fast.

Life  is too short for pity parties. I see lots of pity parties around me every now and again.  Not saying that to be mean, but I think some people use the drama in life to keep going and don’t count the blessings they are given.  I look at some and their drama and think to myself “wow what if they had to go through chemo, radiation, and a partial or full mastectomy?”  And yes, that is how I measure things now.  It really puts things into perspective.

I survived breast cancer.  That is a HUGE blessing and a HUGE positive. It is like getting a second chance at life.

Carpe diem.  Time waits for no man or no woman, so might as well live life as positively as possible, right?