I love speaking in pictures. I feel like it helps communicate to a depth where sometimes words fall short. It helps me process and purpose the hardest parts of my story or illuminate the gratitude of the both+ands or create a picture of hope using the ‘glory days’ of my journey.

[Pause]

and take a moment and consider what pictures you’d use to help tell your story.

For me:

I’ve drawn my cancer story with a few different pictures…diagnosis and the unknowns of treatment – a rickety bridge suffocated with fog over an obscured but obviously treacherous valley, survivorship – a desolate and vast desert without even a cactus as a reference point and no path to follow, the entirety of the story – an ocean where some days it’s calm but most days its unpredictable, choppy and the gales blow up out of nowhere threatening capsize…(I’ve even named my Life Coaching LLC after this one as I wholly love the metaphor of the sailor sailing on purpose in the midst of the uncharted and unpredictable waters of life). #relatable? Another symbol I’ve used to represent my story is the rose. How beautifully intricate and unique, its color-rich and vibrant and exceptional, its complexity-deep and intense, a portrait of femininity and beauty, capturing the eye and awe of the beholder. 

But roses also have thorns. 

[Pause]

and ask yourself: What do the thorns represent for you? 

Together – a fierce beauty. Vital to its existence.

@thepurposedsailor

For me:

The thorns represent the rose’s strength. As deep as its beauty, it’s tough. Fierce. Resilient. Protective. A grit that comes WITH, that is INHERENT, that is INNATE, that is VITAL to its existence. One isn’t without the other in its original and wild nature…. Together – a fierce beauty.

When I was first diagnosed and bilateral mastectomy was really my only option, my sweet husband (knowing I love tattoos) mentioned how ‘one day, you’ll get a mastectomy tattoo’ to beautifully tell this tragic story. And I did. And my tattoo artist (one of the most incredible people in my story) incorporated thorny roses with stormy seas and rays of light and a surprise symbol of resilience-in-trauma placed so perfectly over my port scar just.for.me. What a picture. (And it’s a total bonus that RMCC at Rose Medical Center is my primary treatment location…how cool, right?!)

So, an idea, a suggestion from the #patientperspective:

If you’re wondering how you might help a cancer patient or survivor in your life, consider helping them come up with pictures that tell their story. And then maybe help them fund the fruition of that picture in whatever format they’d like. Just an thought from the #patientperspective during this #breastcancerawareness month. 🙂

#thursdaythoughts #thursdayblog #cancerteachesmethings #thisisbreastcancer #cancer #breastcancer #pinktober #lifecoach #survivorshipcoach #thisissurvivorship #patientexperience