I am writing this reflecting on today’s thriving circle. My hope is if you are reading this you know you are not alone. Our thriving circles are a safe place to talk to each other. The value of having a safe place to be honest and know everyone loves you, values you and will support you is something we all need. You do not need an entire tribe as one very loving supportive person can be enough too. The value of my thriving sisters is they all know. They just know….

Cancer stinks! Side effects from fighting cancer stink! There are many physical and emotional challenges. Darn it but so many times it comes back. My heart aches as I listen to my sisters during our check in process share their journeys with re-occurrence and metastatic disease.

Find your group of people to thrive with. It could be someone who also does their treatment the same times as you do. It could be your coworker. It could be your doctor’s patient advocate. It could be your CNA tech who greets you at your frequent oncology appointments. It could be someone you never dreamed you would connect with. It could be someone who is also blogging on this Project Pink’d site you just relate to. It could be someone who sees you every day as you go to the drive thru coffee shop. During chemo the only food or drink I could ‘tolerate’ was Scooter’s mocha coffee. I called it my daily dose of chocolate sugar. I drove every morning for one. I mean EVERY single morning even during snow storms and on weekends. Seeing those smiling faces hand me my coffee and even recognizing my car at the order microphone so I didn’t even need to say what it was I wanted was true magic for me. They would ask how are you doing? I would said GREAT and mean it for that moment in time. They would compliment me on my hat or hair growth or clothing.

Find your group of people or person. You deserve to be loved and complimented. You need someone to be safe with to talk about your fears, heartache, side effects, milestones, successes......