Good Motivators

It’s crazy to think that exactly one year ago, my world was turned upside-down when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s still hard to even type that out today – in fact, sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago that I was dealing with all that stress. I was in total disbelief, felt so overwhelmed, and had no idea how I was going to take this on. Well, as you can see, I made it out A-OK and learned a lot about myself – one of the biggest things being that I am much stronger than I realize. I think that’s one thing that a lot of survivors will tell you – that this disease F’ing sucks and going through it is no piece of cake, but in the end, you come out so much mentally stronger than you were before.

Even a year later, I am so touched that people are still coming up to me and asking how I am. So to answer that question, I’m actually doing great! I’m probably more physically fit than I have ever been (I’m even training for my very first 10k), I am much less stressed in general, and I would like to think I have a healthy outlook on life. My eating habits have even slightly improved – although I am still a sucker for boba drinks and desserts. And as for symptoms and side effects, I can’t say there are none, but overall, they are manageable and could be much worse. On a side note, acupuncture has been really helpful with some of those annoying symptoms! Of course I am human and totally have my bad days where I am depressed and feeling sorry for myself, but I think that’s normal and I embrace those days as just moments where I need to let it out of my system.

I can’t say there’s a simple formula for how I’ve recovered, but I will say that family and friends were a great help – bonding with them, doing “normal” things again, and not feeling like I was being treated like a sick patient anymore. I also went to a survivor support group for 8 weeks through a local non-profit cancer center and as much as I was reluctant to go to a support group, it made a huge difference. I would also highly recommend this book for any survivor to read (and even caretakers who went through the whole process). This book put into words every emotion I was feeling and really helped me deal with feelings and thoughts I didn’t even know I had.

And with that, on to today’s outfit. Yes, it’s a few days old considering my new hair, but it’s definitely a good time to celebrate and feel good!

The Goods:

• Droids Dress (Star Wars, buy here)
• Flared Skirt (similar here and here) w/Skinny Belt (similar here)
• Jewelry: Earring Jackets (House of Harlow), Pyramid Necklace (Michael Kors), Bracelet (Other Stories), Watch (Michael Kors)
• Sunnies (Nasty Gal)
• Drew Satchel (Chloe, buy here or here)
• Studded Pumps (French Connection)