{"id":3838,"date":"2019-12-09T11:05:10","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T11:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cancerhopenetwork.org\/?p=3838"},"modified":"2023-11-10T15:55:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T20:55:46","slug":"surviving-on-hope-7-thoughts-on-accepting-change-after-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cancerhopenetwork.org\/blog\/surviving-on-hope-7-thoughts-on-accepting-change-after-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Surviving on Hope: 7 Thoughts on Accepting Change after Cancer","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to SURVIVING ON HOPE our monthly column from Support Volunteer Debbie Woodbury. Debbie blogs honestly about the emotional realities of life with cancer \u2013 loneliness, grief, anger, uncertainty \u2013 and the strategies that make surviving on hope possible \u2013 gratitude, support, humor, and joining with other survivors at her\u00a0 blog\u00a0WhereWeGoNow<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition to her service as a CHN Support Volunteer, Debbie Woodbury is a patient educator with Pathways Women\u2019s Cancer Teaching Project and a member of the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center Oncology Community Advisory Board at Overlook Medical Center. Debbie is a ten-year breast cancer survivor, a speaker, and the author of two books,\u00a0You Can Thrive After Treatment<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0How to Build an Amazing Life After Treatment<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to hate change, especially when it barges in frightening and unwanted. Usually, the first instinct is to fight it every step of the way. But if it\u2019s serenity you seek, you\u2019re only going to get there by accepting the changes you cannot change.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m struggling with change (which happens much more than I like to admit) the following help me see things through different eyes:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cWithout change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.\u201d \u2013 Frank Herbert<\/strong>\u2013 Change wakes us up and makes us re-evaluate our priorities and choices.<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cYou must be the change you wish to see in the world.\u201d Mahatma Gandhi<\/strong>\u2013 Change isn\u2019t only something that happens to us, we can and must be proactive if we want to make change for the better in the world.<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cIf you don\u2019t like something change it. If you can\u2019t change it, change your attitude.\u201d \u2013 Maya Angelou<\/strong>\u2013 If you are enduring difficulties, you always have a choice as to how you approach your situation.<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cChange your life today. Don\u2019t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.\u201d \u2013 Simone de Beauvoir<\/strong>\u2013 So many of us put off making changes out of fear of the unknown. The bottom line is all we have is today. If you want to make a change, do it now.<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cLife is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what\u2019s going to happen next.\u201d \u2013 Gilda Radner<\/strong>\u2013 Gilda faced terminal cancer and came to embrace life as a \u201cdelicious ambiguity.\u201d Her ability to face change and all the fear that it brings will always inspire me.<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cIf you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.\u201d \u2013 Lao Tzu<\/strong>\u2013 We fear change because of the pain it can cause. Think of what you could achieve if you relinquished that fear through acceptance.<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cEvery great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.\u201d \u2013 Harriet Tubman\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 Amen!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The very moment cancer comes into your life, it is changed forever. The struggle is how to accept change you have no control over and still somehow move ahead.<\/p>\n

    Survival > Existence,
    \nDebbie<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Welcome to SURVIVING ON HOPE our monthly column from Support Volunteer Debbie Woodbury. Debbie blogs honestly about the emotional realities of life with cancer \u2013 loneliness, grief, anger, uncertainty \u2013 and the strategies that make surviving on hope possible \u2013 gratitude, support, humor, and joining with other survivors at her\u00a0 blog\u00a0WhereWeGoNow. In addition to her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":16,"featured_media":8618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[372,314,213],"post_folder":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSurviving on Hope: 7 Thoughts on Accepting Change after Cancer - Cancer Hope Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s easy to hate change, especially when it barges in frightening and unwanted. Usually, the first instinct is to fight it every step of the way. 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