PERSPECTIVES ON CANCER #17: Lessons

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LESSONS

by

Lisa Hayes

This week someone told me that I can be a bit negative. I didn’t particularly like to hear that, but it did make me stop and think. And the more I thought, the more I realized that person was right.

It’s been nearly three years since I was in a hold up in a cartel town. I and the people I was with thought it was a cartel hit and that we would die that day. I fled back to the U.S. This week as I looked for military pictures for my work, I had a panic attack. The pictures of soldiers and guns did not bring good memories, and I realized I was still affected, still a bit scared.

It’s been one year, two months, three weeks and four days since I finished my last radiation treatment. This week as I sat waiting for my surgical oncologist to see me, I couldn’t breathe. I realized how angry I still was.

I think often of the fact that I was homeless and jobless, that I can’t find full-time employment now. And then I get angry.

People have told me to look at the bright side: I didn’t die in that hold up. I left Mexico safely even though I had to drive through some of the most dangerous areas. I got cancer, yes, but it was the easiest kind to cure. And when people have said this, I have gotten angrier, and asked them, Why did any of that have to happen to me in the first place? I quit believing that things would work out. I lost my faith in happy endings.

I have raged at the universe for a long time now, asking why. Sometimes, though, the answers aren’t clear. Sometimes you have to create your own so you can come to terms with what life throws at you.

Maybe I had to dance with death a bit to appreciate life.

Maybe I didn’t get that full-time job, so I could learn to slow down and get to know people around me.

Maybe those people were put in my path to teach me a bit more about myself, teach me that maybe I am likable, maybe even lovable. Maybe they will teach me how to trust.

Maybe that part-time job was put in my life so I could discover a career that I love and that I do well.

Maybe circumstances have conspired to teach me that things can work out. When I stop to think about it, things have worked out for me.

And maybe I have it all wrong about happy endings. Maybe it isn’t about endings at all. Life is a continuum. Sometimes it’s good; sometimes it’s bad, but mostly, it’s neutral. So maybe the key to contentment is to embrace the neutral.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Lisa Hayes ~ Lisa is a writer, editor, and former educator. She taught writing and English in Mexico for six years. Now Lisa is north-of-the-border and one-year cancer-free. On her blog, Frayed Edges, she shares her observations on life, work, and cancer. She is much admired by readers for work that is honest and touching. She says, “I started my blog so I could release some of the rage, loneliness, and despair I felt after my cancer diagnosis. I originally planned Frayed Edges to be a living journal. After I was invited to join Thursday Poets Rally by its founder, Ji (a.k.a. Monday), I took up poetry again and much of the blog is now devoted to poetry. Since cancer, I have focused more on the human connection and on finding peace. I have recently begun practicing qigong for its meditative and healing qualities. My publications to date have been in academic papers, but one of my goals is other types of publication.” Lisa lives in Dayton, Ohio with two cats, a dog, and a guinea pig.