By Amy Trezona of Whole Heart Communications
It’s scary to hear the words “you have cancer.” The news of a cancer diagnosis, any type of
cancer diagnosis, literally takes your breath away. And you are knocked to your knees no matter
what age. It’s humbling and vulnerable news. My many years as an oncology nurse I’ve seen
many face a cancer diagnosis with a range of difficult emotions and eventually make their way
toward their own personal resilience and resolve. Along the way they grapple with what it means
to live well.
So, what does it mean? Research shows the top three things people with a diagnosis of cancer
can do to maximize quality of life, stay healthy and prevent cancer recurrence is cultivating and
maintaining healthy social connections, managing stress and anxiety, and getting high quality
sleep. These may or may not sound simple, but they are essential. The categories that follow are
exercise then diet. And all of these categories promote a healthy lifestyle and have one thing in
common, they are all about choice.
Let’s break this down. Cultivating and maintaining healthy social connections with friends, family
and community is identified as the most important thing you can do in the face of illness. Often
our relationships are taken for granted. Not really evaluated in terms of healthy communication,
positive feelings and support. We just think this is the way people/colleagues/situations are and
I’m in reaction/relationship/response to them.
This important finding in the research compels you to really take a look at how connected you
feel, how supported you are and how much energy these connections give or take from you. This
requires an honest assessment of your feelings, roles, responsibilities and desires. At Whole
Heart Communications I pose questions for clients to consider. When I am with (name person)
do I leave the encounter with a sense of being heard, feeling valued, supported and cared for?
Are the activities I engage in fulfilling and meaningful? Do my connections allow for a range of
emotions to be expressed; my own and theirs? Do I notice I avoid people because they take too
much energy?
The second category, managing stress and anxiety makes complete sense. When the weight of
stress and the frantic energy of anxiety are the primary focus of your day-to-day they crowd out
room for receiving support, taking perspective, relaxing, and living in the present. The anxiety
takes you into the future and the stress keeps your bodymind system ready to fight or flee.
Learning ways to see your stress and anxiety as a call to turn toward yourself with care is a vital
tool of healing and one you’ll need for living with a cancer diagnosis. It’s important to develop a
“tool kit” of practices and strategies to down regulate your nervous system and find a way to
keep the stress and anxiety in the background rather than the foreground. Whole Heart
Communications offers an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course that helps you
build a stress reducing toolkit, but also to become wiser, more factual and authentic about the
degree and causes of stress and anxiety in your life.
Getting good quality sleep sounds simple but isn’t always easy. There is physical pain associated
with surgery, medications, and disease that make sleep challenging. There is stress and anxiety
that keep the mind churning fearful scenarios keeping sleep at bay. There is the fatigue and
nausea associated with cancer treatment that can make sleep fitful. With all that going on sleep
needs to be prioritized in a way that you most likely haven’t done before. Working with a health
coach can help in this arena.
Most cancers today are considered and treated as a chronic illness much like diabetes and heart
disease to be managed over time. With that in mind, living well is an opportunity to explore what
it means to be yourself, with your experience, navigating the uncertainty and fear while
embracing the heartfelt desire to live fully each day.
Wherever a person is on the cancer continuum – they’ve had cancer and it’s in the rearview
mirror, they’re newly diagnosed, in treatment, living with stable disease, dealing with a
recurrence or facing death, they are the one who make the difference. Each day they rise and
bring themselves to the lab test, scan, x-ray, treatment room, doctor visit and life. How do they
do it? One day, one step, one moment at a time. Their frame of mind as they meet each moment
makes a difference as they learn to live well with cancer.
I am Amy Trezona, a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach, Mindfulness Coach,
and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course facilitator. I help people lead healthier, happier
lives. My expertise is in the impact of stress and anxiety on the bodymind system. I bring the
neuroscience of mindfulness integrated with the coaching process to individuals, small groups,
and organizational trainings.
I love being “with” people in the middle of their lives, listening, holding space and supporting
safety for life to unfold as it surely does -opening to the wisdom that is always here. I am
passionate about helping people connect their heart to their health.
I have 2 programs starting in January, MBSR and Cultivate Health Learn to Live Well with Cancer.
I would love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out for a complimentary coaching conversation.
amy@wholeheartcommunications.com
