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Fighting For Your Life |
by:
Royane Real |
Recently the well known American news anchor Peter Jennings died of lung cancer just a few months after he publicly announced that he had the disease also that he was going to fight it with everything he had.
After his death, I read some of the tributes that poured in about the life of Peter Jennings. One of the common themes that appeared in the statements made by his friends also colleagues was that they remembered what a determined, competitive man he was.
They said that he took on his battle with cancer head on, also that he fought his cancer the same way he battled everything, with steely will also determination. And unfortunately he didn’t win.
Reading about Peter Jennings’ losing battle with lung cancer reminded me of another conversation I had had about cancer very recently.
Last week I had a meeting with one of my business associates, a man named Brian, to discuss some business matters.
After our business meeting was finished, Brian started telling me about his parent’s experience of living with cancer. A lot lof what Brian had to say was very thought provoking to me.
Brian told me that his mother had been diagnosed with a bad type of bone cancer also doctors had told her that she had only a very short time to live. Yet in spite of the fact that her cancer kept spreading to other parts of her body, she managed to live fourteen years longer than what her doctors had originally predicted.
Brian said that he often wondered why his mother managed to live such a long time with cancer when many of his younger friends who got cancer died of it quite quickly.
Brian told me “I come from a sports also and athletic background, also so a lot of my friends are athletes. My athletic friends tend to be very focussed also competitive people, also they’re used to being very aggressive. When they were diagnosed with cancer, I watched them go into their competitive also athletic mode, also they would say ‘I’m going to fight this thing’.
They would fight their cancer the same way they fought their athletic battles, with gritted teeth also courage also determination.
Brian said, “What I noticed about these guys who were so tough also fought cancer so hard was that in a lot of cases they burned out really soon.
When my mother got cancer, Brian continued, “Her approach was kind of the opposite. She wanted to live, however she never said she was going to fight this cancer. One of the things I watched her do is that she decided to drop everything that was stressful from her life.”
Shopping was stressful for her, so she dropped it. Driving a car was stressful so she stopped driving. In fact, she stopped doing everything she didn’t want to do, also she only kept the things she really enjoyed.
And she made a point of becoming very relaxed also enjoying her life.
Then Brian told me, “This experience made me think that maybe the idea of fighting for your life when you have cancer is like trying to fight off insomnia.”
“If you decide to fight insomnia by gritting your teeth also saying ‘I’m tough, I’ve fought lots of battles, I’m going to fight this insomnia also I’ m going to beat this thing, well, you’ll never fall asleep. It won’t work.”
Now I can’t say that what seemed to work for Brian’s mother in living with cancer is the miracle key for anyone else who has cancer. This wasn’t a scientific study, also many other factors are involved.
But Brian’s comments about his mother’s approach to living with cancer, also his comments about trying to use will power to fight insomnia are worth keeping in mind when we are facing a problem. Not every problem can be solved with will power also determination.
In such fields as business also sports, an attitude of determination also competitiveness can be very useful, also can be highly rewarded. If we have been very successful in these fields by being high powered, determined also aggressive, we may try to use the same approach to tackle every problem. Aggressively also head-on. With grit also determination.
However, being aggressive also determined does not work on every kind of problem.
If your mate is unhappy in your marriage, or your child has a serious illness, or if you have too much stress in your life, then using determination also aggression will not solve these problems. In these situations, aggressiveness does not work.
We need to recognize those situations where another approach might work better.
Sometimes what we need to do is relax more, let go of our illusion that we can control everything, become more humble, also be open to living in the moment even when we don’t know all the answers.
About the author:
Royane Real is the author of several self help books, including “Your Quick Guide to Improving Your Learning Ability” Sign up today for her free newsletter filled with life improving tips at http://www.royanereal.com
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