Social Well Being
Maintaining strong relationships with family, friends and your community are essential for well-being, especially in the face of a life challenge like enduring the process of cancer treatment. The ability to lean on a support network for practical help, and also for compassion, is key to feeling supported, valued, and loved, and helps one maintain a full sense of personhood rather than feeling merely like a cancer patient.
Engagement
Sustaining hobbies, reigniting old ones, or finding new avenues of passionate engagement can help anyone maintain a sense of continuity and full personhood during the sometimes dehumanizing process of cancer treatment.
Enrichment
Being involved in the community is an excellent way to continue feeling like a complex and connected person with valued skills to contribute and meaningful outlets. It is also a perfect way to share common interests, cultivate deep relationships, and expand one’s support network. Whether that involvement be in the form of volunteer work with a local nonprofit organization, helping out at a community center, a school, or place of worship, there are myriad ways to connect during cancer treatment.
“HEALTH is a state of body. WELLNESS is a state of being.” ~J. Standford