Choosing Not To Fear

As many of you know, in addition to writing this blog, I also write for some other sites. This includes writing for Blood-Cancer.com, where I am a Community Advocate.

I'm fond of this site. It has a nice collection of advocates and writers, who deal with a variety of blood cancers (different leukemia and myeloma types, as well as lymphoma types). Even though not everyone is a Follicular Lymphoma patient, the site offers lots of good advice no matter where you are with your cancer experience.

I had a piece published this week on the site, called "Choosing Not To Fear." I actually submitted it to the site at the end of October, and they've just now published it. (That's not a complaint -- it tells you how many great writers and advocates they have contributing to the site. The waiting room is crowded, if you know what I mean -- and I'm sure you do.)

I hadn't thought about the piece in a while, so it was kind of fun to read it again after a few months. I have to say, I'm proud of this one. My wife pointed out to me that some of what I've been writing lately has been a little negative (the 12 Year Diagnosiversary blog post, in particular).

I can see that. It's funny -- things are going fairly well for me, in terms of my health. I'm 10 years post-treatment. My last oncology appointment (also described in a post that was a little on the negative side) went just fine.

Maybe with things going so well, I have the luxury of being annoyed by little things? Maye those things wouldn't have gotten to me so much if I was in need of a "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" attitude?

So maybe my slightly-more-negative-than-usual attitude is actually a good thing?

Whatever the case, it was nice to go back a few months and read something on the more positive side.

The Blood-Cancer.com piece is about Blue-Footed Boobies, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, and other fearless creatures of the Galapagos Islands. Here are some pictures:

And, more importantly, it's about what we do the fear we have. I don't think we can ever avoid the fear -- we can't really choose to do something that we have no control over. But we do have lots of choice about how we handle that fear.

So take a look at the piece and think about about what you do with the fear you might feel.

I try to channel it into learning more about my disease, doing what I can to help others deal with it, and plan on living a very long life.

(And, occasionally, to be a little more negative than I should be. But I think we've agreed -- that's a good thing, right?)