Well hello there, 2025, so wonderful to make your acquaintance! I look forward to experiencing all that you may bring my way and more 😀. But first...
While this week's buzz is heavy on the, "out with the old, in with the new," I unapologetically feel that my 2024 needs its proper adieu, so I am going to make space and honour her departure. I hope you will join me as I hop aboard my little metaphorical riverboat for a brief but meaningful séjour down the farewell 2024 riviera. Then we can move on to the champagne-bottle-smashing inauguration of 2025`s brand new cruise ship, complete with shiny shuffleboard decks (not just for old people!), infinity swimming pools (do you have to keep swimming in them forevermore?) and multiplex cinemas (how DOES one watch more than one film at a time....impressive!). I am making all of this stuff up btw, I have never even set foot on a cruise ship. Blame my Epi Friends, they have forever schooled me on the multiple reasons to limit cruise ship travel, bean sprout consumption, and especially bean sprout consumption while on a cruise ship! Ok, focus Ellen, you are getting side-tracked...
First things first, 2024. One must give credit where credit is due. I must really thank you for all that you taught me about myself and others during your 12-month stint in my life. While I may have questioned your chosen teaching method (breast cancer again? - couldn't we have branched out to something less diseasy and dramatic, like an ankle fracture perhaps, a disorder of some kind, or at minimum, toned it down a touch? Scoliosis does run in the family - too understated? It's pretty darn disabling...)
An mBC (Metastatic Breast Cancer) diagnosis this year was certainly effective in jolting me from a routine that, if I'm being honest, was neither protecting nor promoting my health like my public health position was doing for Canadians writ large. My cancer recurrence catapulted me out of my cosy little routine and drove home a tonne of unwelcome change, not only to my physical state, but to my mental health and well-being too. Being thrown into so much change so abruptly made it super easy for you 2024 to wreak havoc (a real bummer), but also to finally hammer home and cement in my brain three very important lessons, which I am delighted to share with you, my readers below! So herein I deliver the first post of our New Year, which is actually leading with a fitting byline:
Schooled in 2024, to be forgotten, nevermore!
1. Our path (be it fun-filled or dodgy-looking) is never set in stone. Things can and do change for no reason, and a surefire way to come out on top is to be open and curious as to where your path is taking you. Then accept the ride and hang on for dear life! Fighting it will only get you lost, mangled, or thrown off the trail completely. Now where's the fun and adventure in that? Undeniably, it takes courage to face change, to follow an unknown path, but remember, you are not alone. You are part of a vast village of your biggest supporters, all of whom will jump at the chance to come to your side and be your hiking companion.
And no, you don't need to get a cancer diagnosis to summon YOUR village! Maybe you are sad and just need the company of a friend for an hour or two at precisely the right moment. Or you need someone to fetch you a fancy coffee, tea or favourite snack, simply because it would make life a little nicer for you at this moment. There is no ask too little, no deed anyone will refuse, if they can logistically make it happen. 2024 drove this point home for me. You aren't bothering anyone; if they are busy they will tell you so. Would you not do the same for them? So why is it any different when you're the one asking? But you need to do the asking or folks will assume that you are ok going it alone.
Still not sure who your biggest fans are? This is the fun part! Just open your eyes widely and you will see your hidden village. Some may have been placed on a distant shelf and are collecting dust. Dust them off. Others are standing by in the wings waiting for the "we really should get together again" invitation for a coffee meetup. Invite them. Summon your village. We are out there in abundance. I am one of them.
2. Listening to your body is the best gift you will ever give yourself, this year or any year. I really hope you will indulge! It will require you to silence that part of your brain telling you not to listen, but I think you are up for the challenge.
It's so easy to hit snooze when the universe is repeatedly tapping us on the shoulder. But as an indigenous healer I recently had the great fortune of working with shared with me, if it's doing so, day in, day out, it probably has something important to say. Don't snooze that alarm, go find out what it's for. It may surprise you (in a good way)! Maybe it's one of the many daily alarms I've set reminding myself to hydrate, or to just stop what I'm doing in my sedentary lifestyle and move. Or maybe it's something else, something we've not been giving its due attention (flossing, Lisa?), and stopping to make that happen will open new doors (or rather close some in dentistry bills) that we don't want to have to open. Or there is of course the rare possibility of something lurking there that we in fact don't want to see. But why do we really not want to see it?
Remember, you will still have a choice to act or not; seeing will simply give you the choice to make that decision. Choices are good, no? No matter what you do, not matter to what extent you choose to listen to your body or not, I support you. I'm just giving you my thoughts on my own foray down this path of denial and how it really didn't benefit me one bit. I wish I had listened sooner. But I'm glad I started listening when I did because I never again turned back, and I've reaped so many benefits since doing so. Our bodies are amazing works of machinery and art, all chiming together in unison. If something is off in one area, bells go off in many different directions, and when it's working well, we can't deny it, we feel fantastic. So go have a listen, drink that water, get a proper sleep a few times per week, and come back and tell us if you don't hear sweet music playing from every orifice of your bodily fortress!
...and finally, here is perhaps my biggest lesson that I thought I had learned. I later realized that you had all mastered it, it was I who was still living in the stone ages...
3. We really don't comprehend the power we all harness and can unleash by simply being vulnerable and opening our hearts to kindness above all else. You all showed me that in 2024, through your messages, memes and dad jokes, personal anecdotes, ad-hoc check-ins, visit requests, hive community volunteerism and regular connectivity with me online on the platform of your choice. While I did a really hapless job at responding to messages this year, I was able to let go of the guilt and simply appreciate the fact that so many of my village was here for me at any given moment. Just knowing I wasn't alone was enough to quash many a troubling thought, and when I did make it out to actually visit with some of you, my body and heart responded like a dream!
Did you know that my constant challenge with mBC has been the pain and nausea associated with peritoneal fluid - cancer cells in my abdomen? This has lead to muscle wasting (cachexia) and anorexia, resulting in extreme weight loss. Essentially I have a hefty appetite, but once I start eating I immediately feel full. But whenever I am enjoying the company of friends, my nausea magically disappears and I am able to consume foods in abundance and variety! Every single time I gather, no matter with whom, this happens like clockwork! I can't possibly start the New Year without sending you all my heartfelt thanks for this, for the magical creatures you are, and for the multitude of other blessings you have delivered to me and no doubt countless others in 2024. As we enter the New Year, believe in yourself as I believe in you. You are powerful, your kindness is transformative, and I think that you are doing an amazing job at life.
Cheers to a 2025 filled with open minds, ears, hearts and all of your hopes and dreams! If none of that pans out, at least we will still have our village!
Yours, Ellen
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