Courage - Life's sweet

Courage - Life's sweet

So many people have said to me 'Beryl, you're so courageous' 'You're inspirational' and so forth. I've learned that what they really mean is 'I don't think I could do what you are doing, if it were me going through what you've experienced'. But we do what me must. And courage is in the eye of the beholder.

I still remember the night I came home from having dinner with the half dozen friends in the Alfred Cancer Support Group (Alf for short), stepped out of my car and took a deep breath.

The night was clear and crisp. The only thought in my head was ‘Life is sweet’.

So many people ask ‘Why are we here?’. Breathing the air, thinking about the joy of just living, when the opposite had been such a possibility not long before, I knew that was enough. If we were given a chance at this life simply to experience a few moments when we know life truly is sweet, that was a good enough reason.

And today's poem reflects this.

THE COURAGE TO LIVE

I’ll have the courage to live

The hard option

The way down a track

I may not want to go

Death’s easy

if your body will only give up

and let you go

to where it isn’t any more

But it wants to live

silly old thing

and I must do

what it wants, for it has its own wisdom

So I’ll have the courage to live

And since I’m to live

I’ll make sure it’s living fully

taking all that life can give

Living it to the hilt

Loving the living,

the people I meet

and those whose bodies and minds

only touch mine over distances untold

and choose to also live, like me

With gusto, a love that won’t give in

Because life is good

Life is grand, in its sweep across the years

Tears shedding soul’s pain

Letting me – and you – live again

In the fullness of a life

Lived fully.

                                    27^th September

And living's what it's about isn't it? The gift of life may be cherished well when we're having a good day; but it sometimes seems to me even greater when I've just come through a particularly bad one. Because that proves that I still do have the strength to just keep going and come out on the 'other side'.

Sorry I've been a bit late with this post - it's been a very busy, very trying, very satisfying time. Lots of radio interviews into the US by phone. All good fun, even when it's half past midnight, followed by another one at 6.30am. Great to be given a chance to put the message out that: The message behind all the pink of breast cancer month is -- Don't let fear put you off having yourself checked - Visit the doctor if you feel a lump, or indeed if anything else tells you there's something really wrong with your body.

We need to take back control of our own bodies. Like making sure your doctor truly listens to you - and that any x-rays or scans are checked by more than one person. Most times you'll be re-assured to find there's nothing major wrong; but if you do have cancer, the sooner you find it the greater chance you give yourself of having only minor treatment and living to a grand old age.

And If you, or anyone you know, would like copies of my books: ‘Cancer – A Journey’  or  ‘After Cancer – the Journey Continues’ you may order them from my website.. I'll have them in your hands within days.

Love and kisses. Live life, don't let it slide by unnoticed.

Beryl