A few days ago as I was scrolling through social media when I saw a reel by a cancer influencer who was new to me. She asked the question, “If you could leave a 60 second voicemail for yourself on the day of your diagnosis, what would you say?” The anniversary of my diagnosis day is coming up in three days, so reflecting on that question is particularly poignant. There is so much I would say to the Julie that heard the word cancer applied to her body for the first time. But keeping to the 60 second limit, my voicemail would sound like this:

“Today is hard and what is to come is the hardest thing you will ever do. But you will survive. And your faith will carry you through the darkest days ahead. In the process, you will learn about who and what really matters to you. Let everything else fall to the wayside. Trust yourself and listen to the wisdom of your own body. Don’t try to live up to the image of a strong cancer patient for others. Just be true to yourself. Lean into the strengths you naturally carry; your resilience, your joy, your gratitude, your deep love for others, your natural desire to move your body, and your incredible thirst for knowledge. Those strengths will sustain you. You will learn the normal that existed earlier today, before this diagnosis, will never exist again. Do not to waste too much time looking back trying to recreate it. Just know that your new normal will have plenty of beauty too. Allow yourself to grieve the lost and welcome what is to come. And here is a surprise twist in your story; you will become a writer!”

There are so many lessons I have learned in this journey with cancer that I would want to pass on to myself on the day of diagnosis. The amazing thing is that every survivor has different cancer experiences with different lessons. My voicemail is just a reflection of mine. What I think is valuable is taking time to reflect, on the day of big life events of the past, what would you say to yourself? How would you want to encourage yourself through the hard days ahead?

Be well, my dear readers.