Young adult cancer or chronic illness makes life more difficult to navigate.  Quickly, the amount of control that you thought you had over your life is greatly diminished and so many things are forced to change.  Adapting to those changes takes practice and patience.  Learning to go with the flow is often a great asset.  This doesn’t have to mean that you let every little thing go, but there are definitely things that can be altered or shifted in order to create a more balanced life with cancer and into survivorship.
One of the traditions that I have carried on from my mother is sending out Holiday cards and letters.  Every year I do my best to send them out before heading to see family over Christmas.  I rarely make that deadline.  My next goal is to have those cards and letters in the mail by New Years…  Well, this winter, New Years came and went and I still hadn’t even finished the letter.  The idea of breaking what was such an important tradition to my mom was almost unbearable to me.  I’d already lost her and now I was losing a beautiful gesture to my friends and family.  Well, with lemons come lemonade and with the new year comes Valentine’s Day.  Why not go with the flow and send out Valentine’s Day cards?
So I got some cards for cheap off of amazon (using Amazon smile to donate to a charity close to my heart!) and rebranded my family’s holiday letter to include some Valentine’s Day cheer! Â An initial round of cards went out and I ran out! Â Sooo, I purchased a handful more and sent out a round of Belated Valentine’s Day cards. Â What could have been a stressful situation turned into a fun way to connect with family and friends.
How do you take lemons and make lemonade when young adult cancer or chronic illness affects your life?
