Mental & Emotional Well Being

The process of cancer treatment can be tumultuous and uncertain. While a medical team will care for your physical well-being during cancer treatment, there is often not as much emphasis placed on your emotional well-being.  And yet stress and anxiety can take an additional toll on your health.  Recognizing your feelings, but learning to strike a balance between what you can and can’t control will help in cultivating resilience and establishing balance in your life.  As CWC Co-Founder Dr. Cynthia Angel has said, “You can live well while living with cancer”

Stress reduction

Cancer brings with it all sorts of stressors.  There are some things you can do to help restore balance: focusing on what you can control, organizing to be your own best advocate in your medical care, learning how to set limits without guilt, recognizing your strengths and tapping into the habits that serve you.  These skills will help empower you regardless of the circumstances.   Mindfulness practices such as meditation, breathing exercises, and guided imagery, will aid you now and as you move forward.

Building Resilience

“Resilience can be viewed as an individual’s ability to maintain or restore relatively stable psychological and physical functioning when confronted with stressful life events and adversity. (Seiler & Jenewein, 2019)” After being diagnosed with cancer, it is not unusual to feel out of control and overwhelmed.  And it’s true that there are plenty of aspects of life outside one’s control, but there are also aspects of control that no diagnosis can ever take away.  There are tools to use to help you advocate for yourself and communicate with medical staff, family and friends what your desires are for how you proceed through treatment. 

With practice, these aspects of self care can always be harnessed to increase resilience and quality of life no matter the circumstances.  Our mission is to provide you with many tips and tools to empower your well-being and help you develop greater resilience.