Embracing New Traditions

Coping with holidays and birthdays can be bittersweet for people who are also dealing with major illnesses such as cancer. Holidays and birthdays can be a very challenging time for us.  Why?  I think it is because it is sometimes hard for us to think about celebrating when life presents the challenges relating  to the harsh reality of a cancer  diagnosis and treatment.  In addition, holidays and birthdays bring a lot of hustle and bustle and many stresses.  The challenge then is to find ways to balance one’s own stresses related to the cancer diagnosis and treatment as well as the stressors brought on by holidays.

In dealing with holidays / special occasions, it is important to make realistic goals for getting through it. I always tell patients about the importance of embracing new traditions, so if you are the person that usually hosted the family gatherings, you may have to rethink the how and where for the 2013 holidays and getting others to help prepare the foods.

Family relationships can also be another source of stress so we need to understand our own family dynamics and how to manage those issues.  Surround yourself with positive and nurturing  people and vibes.

Here’s one special occasion you can look forward to: our Annual Celebration of Life on June 2. Details to come.

Tags: Celebration of Life, Psycho social issues

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Cancer Support, General Medical, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.