
How I changed my thought patterns after Stage 3 Bowel Cancer diagnosis when my kids were 6 and 4 years old
1- I anchored myself on my deepest why
When I received the news of my diagnosis at 38 years old, I was filled with fear
I was scared to die but
But the thought of leaving my children without a mum was more scary than anything
So I grabbed on to that as my fuel.
I read a book at the time (without realising the full story) of someone going through chemo for bowel cancer too
and the person didn’t do anything to change and her kids watched her mum die
That made a mark on my soul
I wanted my kids to see I was doing everything I could to survive every single day
Even if I died
So each morning I would wake up and ask myself
Do you want to live or die?
2- I change my negative thoughts in every challenge I faced
I realised my thoughts were predominantly negative and I couldn’t afford that during chemo
Every time I had a set back during chemo
I asked myself
What is the one positive thing in this situation?
I practiced changing my thought pattern in every challenge until I created a new habit
To see something positive in every negative situation
3- Acknowledge that my negative thoughts were just a habit
I realised that I needed to take different action daily if I wanted to change my thought pattern
I had created a habit of going down the path of always thinking negative
I could change that if I practiced enough times a different way of thinking
And I did
I do believe everything we do is a habit and when we anchor ourselves in a deep enough why
Recognize the habit that we want to let go
Create the new habit we want to keep
Practice over and over again
We are on a path to becoming the best version of ourselves daily.
Knowledge is not enough - we need to take a different action daily
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