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Cancer survivors and caregivers don’t get to quit!

When I became a coach, I decided it was time to stop quitting on myself.  When I chose to work with cancer survivors and caregivers, it was a call to up my game even more.

If you are part of this community, you know you don’t have the luxury of quitting.  Neither do your doctors, oncology nurses and all the other people who support you on the healing journey.  Both Gary and I had days when we thought we couldn’t take it anymore.  There were times when I thought I might fail him and times when I felt I did…but I never quit and neither did he.

So I am NOT going to give up now!

If you feel like walking away from a challenge, goal or dream what can you do to stick with it instead? Or maybe you’re facing a challenge you can’t walk away from even if you wanted to?  This is often the situation my clients who are caregivers or cancer survivors are facing.  What can you help you through the desire to cut and run especially if it isn’t an option?

You can try positive thinking, you can attempt to force yourself to JUST DO IT! or you can appease yourself with the promise you’ll get to it tomorrow…and we know how these approaches usually turn out.

Four Key Steps That Worked for Me…

  1. Breathe.  Stop and take a deep breath.  Sounds remedial but it really helps to slow down the spinning thoughts or feelings of overwhelm or “I can’t do this anymore”.  It helps to get you out of your head and more grounded.
  2. Revisit your mission.  (These four steps are NOT for those unsure of their mission…they are for people who have clearly created their vision in alignment with their goals, core values and/or gifts.) For someone going through the cancer experience, your mission may be to focus on creating the highest degree of wellness possible or to inject quality of living into each day living beyond treatment or…my favorite…to move from surviving to thriving.  For caregivers, your mission may be to continue to support your loved one AND take care of yourself.  Get clear on your mission.
  3. See that your mission is bigger than you.  Again, for survivors and caregivers the mission of thriving impacts those around you in a profound way.  Your commitment to your goals makes a difference to others, not just you.  Connecting with something greater than you is an important source of inspiration and energy to stay in action.
  4. If you’ve seen yourself reflected in my dirty little secret I shared yesterday then, for once…keep going just because you’ve never done it before.  Do something new.  Try an experiment.  Cheat the Quitter out of another win and choose a different action this time…choose to stick with it for ______ you fill in the blank.  What if you stuck with something for another three months or six months?  And really gave it your all? Will it mean some sacrifice?  Probably…but I’d take a page from Lady Gaga‘s book and push outside the comfort zone.  Click here to read Lady Gaga’s Formula For Success + Four More Tips.
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