In today’s day and age, we women seem to always have many things that we are trying to juggle. From family to work and beyond, there are things constantly vying for our attention and we must decide what is a priority, and more importantly, what is not. The question then becomes, how do we decide when everything seems so important?
Last year at this time, I was running around trying to climb the corporate ladder while keeping my status as “super mom”. I had applied to return to school to obtain my Masters degree, but on December 6, 2012, this all changed. I received the news that I had a very aggressive type of breast cancer, and in an instant, my priorities changed.
No longer was I concentrating on climbing the corporate ladder, rather, I was focused on fighting to live and to love the people who were in my life and important to me. It is one thing to assess our priorities when we are forced to, however, what about the rest of the time? Why don’t we make the time to assess what matters most to us regularly to make sure we are staying on track so that we perhaps have fewer regrets later in life? Or do we as women require hardships to wake us from our “super woman” fog to realize the areas of our life that we are neglecting?
My journey through breast cancer was an unexpected eye opener. I maintained a positive attitude and did what I had to do to get through it: that was my priority at that time. I tackled chemo and bilateral mastectomies and was declared cancer free in May of 2013.
Since then, I decided to decline my acceptance for my Masters degree and focus my time on touching people’s lives in a positive way, especially my children. We all have goals in life, however, now I try to make sure that I look at my goals and ask myself if they will really matter to anyone 10 years from now if I die today. Staying healthy, loving the people that I am blessed with, and making my unique mark on the world by touching others is what God has placed on my heart as my new goals in life.
A person cannot go through an illness like breast cancer and not come out the other end unchanged. Some will have a limited time to touch lives, while others of us who have beaten cancer have a second chance at life and how we live it.
It is clear that my life and perspective on things are changed. Now I move forward at a slower pace, assess my priorities daily, and ask myself why I am making the choices I am making and is it benefiting others.
It took breast cancer to awaken me from my fog, but this does not need to be the catalyst for you. My gift to you is my story. Take time for yourself and to enjoy those around you…..slow down and live!
Watch Kristy's video to hear her story:
No comments:
Post a Comment