A Smile Changes Everything for This Breast Cancer Survivor

There are just so many things that put a smile on my face. It may be anything from a cute puppy or a baby’s giggle. Perhaps it is my friend trying to tell a stupid joke or someone playing a prank on someone else. It just might be a big bouquet of flowers presented to me by my special someone or a great big chocolate chip cookie. You see it really doesn’t take much to make me smile because I am just enjoying my life so much. But when I was receiving a diagnosis of cancer, not one time but two times that made me wonder if I would ever smile again.

“So I suggest that you give a smile a try whenever your thoughts start to travel in the wrong direction. If you have someone else around, try to laugh with him or her about something – anything.”Barbara Jacoby

I was recently reminded of that when I was chatting with a friend who was dealing with her own cancer diagnosis. I remember making a conscious effort to make her smile and perhaps even laugh. Here she was, facing her own battle and experiencing all of the fear that comes with the not knowing. It’s the not knowing how bad your situation might be. It’s the not knowing about what surgery will be like and whether you will have to have chemotherapy. It’s the not knowing whether you have the strength to deal with everything ahead of you. It’s the not knowing with whom you are going to share your diagnosis and how you will share it. The list goes on and on. And it is in that moment when you need to have someone on your side that is willing to help you find ways to put a smile on your face.

It was in this vein that I chose to share with my friend about my lessons on how to deal with my drain tubes after surgery. I couldn’t help but describe all of maneuvering and manipulations I went through in order to keep those things hoisted up so that they wouldn’t be a hassle. After all, at that time I don’t even know if they had those cute little shirts that you can get now with pockets to hold the receptacles in place. So, safety pins holding them in place on the inside of my T-shirt was my method of dealing with them. Of course, my description had her laughing out loud and when it came time for her to deal with her own drain tubes, she had a visual of my demonstration that made her laugh and made it so much easier for her to deal with what I thought was one of the worst parts of the follow-up to surgery.

I know how hard it is to keep a positive attitude when you have just been diagnosed with breast cancer but perhaps my little trick might help you or someone you know. Whenever I felt like I was focusing all of my thoughts and energy on the cancer journey, I started smiling. Yes, I would smile. And what I learned is that when you are smiling, your heart and mind start smiling, too. Your energy changes completely. You just can’t feel down or sad with a smile on your face. If I felt like the smile was starting to fade, I would start to think about something that would actually make me laugh out loud and even if the giggling made me hurt a little more, the pain quickly faded when I was no longer focused on it.

So I suggest that you give a smile a try whenever your thoughts start to travel in the wrong direction. If you have someone else around, try to laugh with him or her about something – anything. It is amazing how your spirits will be lifted. And if you do this every time that you start focusing on something negative, you will soon create a new habit for yourself that will completely turn your life around. Just remember, a little smile always goes a long way!