Pinktober Edition – Part 1
Self Care for Cancer Patients: Tip Number 1
Out having a good day not thinking about your cancer or your loved one’s cancer and then BOOM you’re suddenly passing by shelves full of cancer awareness items. Same goes for scrolling around the inter webs, too. Hi! That search data they have on us as cancer thrivers is a strong force, amirite?! Being thrust into thinking about cancer when you weren’t intending to can wind up a flurry of emotions.
Pinktober (Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October filled with pink) or any cancer event related month can kind of be like a rollercoaster GRIEF experience. Grief comes in unexpected times and people experience it differently.
It’s okay to have a mix of emotions during a cancer awareness month. And it’s okay to feel differently than other cancer survivors that you are connected with.
This series will share 5 key tips of powerful self care for cancer patients to help you cope with cancer awareness months that can stir up emotions. The best part is that all these things are free! Spoiler alert – this isn’t about taking time away at a spa (although that can totally be your thing). This is about practical in-expensive ways to support your own emotional health while being bombarded by awareness campaigns.
Allow Yourself to Feel the Emotions
Allow yourself to acknowledge the emotions and ride that short wave. It is actually a very short biological occurrence. Research by Harvard brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor shows the chemical process (what we biologically feel in our bodies) of an emotion lasts around 90 seconds. We can ride that feelings wave for a minute and a half!
Bolte declares, “When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90-second chemical process that happens; any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop.”
Acknowledge. Observe. Choose.
Acknowledge the emotion. Note where you feel it in your body. Observe it flushing out in about 90 seconds. Choose how you want to regulate that neurological response — you can choose not to let it rule you. Note, this is not “toxic positivity” nor gaslighting. This is indeed taking a minute and a half to practice the art of noticing and releasing in order to not get stuck in a feelings wormhole.
Seeing pink doesn’t have to blow your whole day. Identifying some company pinkwashing a product, just to gain your sale, doesn’t have to crush you for the rest of your waking hours. Practicing this first step of the Powerful Self Care for Cancer Patients – Pinktober Edition can help you be the boss of your emotions! You can choose to find joy in some other moments of your day. Making this intentional choice is an aspect of the positive power of words for a cancer patient and an important way to be the CEO of your own wellness.
REFERENCES
Robinson, Ph.D., B. E. (n.d.). The 90-second rule that builds self-control. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-right-mindset/202004/the-90-second-rule-builds-self-control
