Finding the Light
I have had a very personal and tough battle with my mental health over the last few years and for a long time I suffered with depression. When something happened in my family, I fell off the rails. I was in weekly counselling, had time off work and was on an ever increasing dose of happy pills. After quite a hard time, I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel and started getting back to 'normal' and happy Georgie.
Without wanting to sounds too 'woe is me,' I had just started to enjoy my new life and newly found light when I was hit with the cancer stick. It was like that all too familiar thunder cloud started to roll back in. I had to give myself a stern talking to and tell myself we were not heading down that garden path again but we will find something, a coping mechanism to keep me present.
Trying to find something to keep you positive throughout your cancer treatment can sometimes be a bit of a hard task. You body feels like a nuclear war zone, it can feel like you lose your identity and your life comes to a screeching halt. For you not to lose your marbles at one point in time is god dam Herculean. You are allowed your down days, you are allowed to cry, scream, be angry, you must let yourself have these emotions but you must not let yourself be taken over by these emotions. You must focus (what little) energy you have on something positive. I found it helped me so much having something uplifting to focus my energy on.
My dad said something to me at the start of my treatment that resonated. 'It's because of people before you fundraising which is why you are receiving the treatment you are today.' I wanted to be part of the reason that someone after me gets the treatment they need to save their life which is why I started fundraising for The Royal Marsden, the hospital I receive my treatment at. Right away I set up a Just Giving page with a target of £500. The main fundraising activity was to turn up at my last chemo in fancy dress. Anyone who donated could suggest an outfit and at the end I would pick one of the suggestions out of a hat. I plastered it all over social media, messaged it to friends and family and within a day it was over £1000, I couldn't believe it! Over the next few months and course of my chemo there were bake sales, raffles, golf club fundraising, it was amazing. The Royal Marsden picked up on what I was doing and asked me to do a social media takeover where I could raise awareness on all things Hodgkin's Lymphoma and shed light on the amazing work The Royal Marsden does. Each of these things helped me see the good in this journey and what I could achieve even when my body was at breaking point. I started to write a blog to raise awareness (and to use as a personal venting space) and started attending charity events and workshops - all of which showed me you can still have a life and a meaningful one at that, whilst having cancer.
I found fundraising and contributing where I can kept me positive, being able to focus on something bigger than what I was going through really help me and my mental health. I can't thank everyone who donated enough as well because every time I saw my amount go up it would give me the biggest smile! There are so many things to try other than fundraising that could help your mental health and keeping positive. Perhaps starting a new hobby or learning a new skill like knitting or painting, taking time out to meditate and practice mindfulness, walking the dogs (or getting a dog!), writing a blog or perhaps cooking. You just need to try and find something that works best for you.
Fundraising for me was my personal savior out of the darkness but I cannot stress the importance of it. If you want to donate of support any cancer charities there are some truly incredible ones out there. The ones that have touched me in some way are:
Without wanting to sounds too 'woe is me,' I had just started to enjoy my new life and newly found light when I was hit with the cancer stick. It was like that all too familiar thunder cloud started to roll back in. I had to give myself a stern talking to and tell myself we were not heading down that garden path again but we will find something, a coping mechanism to keep me present.
Trying to find something to keep you positive throughout your cancer treatment can sometimes be a bit of a hard task. You body feels like a nuclear war zone, it can feel like you lose your identity and your life comes to a screeching halt. For you not to lose your marbles at one point in time is god dam Herculean. You are allowed your down days, you are allowed to cry, scream, be angry, you must let yourself have these emotions but you must not let yourself be taken over by these emotions. You must focus (what little) energy you have on something positive. I found it helped me so much having something uplifting to focus my energy on.
My dad said something to me at the start of my treatment that resonated. 'It's because of people before you fundraising which is why you are receiving the treatment you are today.' I wanted to be part of the reason that someone after me gets the treatment they need to save their life which is why I started fundraising for The Royal Marsden, the hospital I receive my treatment at. Right away I set up a Just Giving page with a target of £500. The main fundraising activity was to turn up at my last chemo in fancy dress. Anyone who donated could suggest an outfit and at the end I would pick one of the suggestions out of a hat. I plastered it all over social media, messaged it to friends and family and within a day it was over £1000, I couldn't believe it! Over the next few months and course of my chemo there were bake sales, raffles, golf club fundraising, it was amazing. The Royal Marsden picked up on what I was doing and asked me to do a social media takeover where I could raise awareness on all things Hodgkin's Lymphoma and shed light on the amazing work The Royal Marsden does. Each of these things helped me see the good in this journey and what I could achieve even when my body was at breaking point. I started to write a blog to raise awareness (and to use as a personal venting space) and started attending charity events and workshops - all of which showed me you can still have a life and a meaningful one at that, whilst having cancer.
I found fundraising and contributing where I can kept me positive, being able to focus on something bigger than what I was going through really help me and my mental health. I can't thank everyone who donated enough as well because every time I saw my amount go up it would give me the biggest smile! There are so many things to try other than fundraising that could help your mental health and keeping positive. Perhaps starting a new hobby or learning a new skill like knitting or painting, taking time out to meditate and practice mindfulness, walking the dogs (or getting a dog!), writing a blog or perhaps cooking. You just need to try and find something that works best for you.
Fundraising for me was my personal savior out of the darkness but I cannot stress the importance of it. If you want to donate of support any cancer charities there are some truly incredible ones out there. The ones that have touched me in some way are:
- The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity
- Trekstock
- Lymphoma Action
- Macmillan
- Cancer Research U.K.
- Cancer Chicks
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