My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just 6 months to live, when I just 19 years old. 

I was working in London at Barclays Bank at the time, my older sister was away at University and my younger sisters were only 15 and 12 years young. My Dad was around but emotionally unavailable.

I remember going to bed crying every night, regularly bursting into tears at work, and worrying myself into gut wrenching knots that every day could be my mum’s last day. How could I take care of my younger siblings?

My Mum survived that cancer and went on to live cancer free, not illness free, until she was diagnosed again 15 years later with terminal cancer. Again she was given 6 months to live.

This time around my siblings and I were of course older and more emotionally equipped to deal with the tragic news, but it was still a horrible time for all.

My Mum survived that cancer with further treatment and was given a life saving colostomy bag. And miraculously she will celebrate her 79th birthday on 1 July.

What I have learnt from these life changing experiences are of course much too many to mention in one post. But the headline critical gift I received from my Mum’s experience that I want to share today is: 

‘Stop wasting time worrying and crying about something that may never happen!’

Which is what I now call ‘FEARCASTING’. Using your creativity and imagination to make a scaremongering movie in your mind.

Sadly my Mum has recently been diagnosed with cancer again, this time inoperable due to the ‘mess’ in her internal organs left behind after the previous cancer treatments she has been through.

Of course we are all still processing the news in our own way but for me, it’s slightly more digestible knowing that she’s lived longer than any Doctor told her she ever would.

And, as evidence suggests, she could live for a number of years past any diagnosis!

So please pay forward my profound learning from my Mum’s situation to not worry into the future about things that may not happen.

Use your precious energy, valuable time, creativity and imagination to focus on FORECASTING. To create what you DO want in your life, live in the NOW, and aim to be GRATEFUL for every moment you are alive in this MIRACLE we call LIFE.

As we know resilience is a muscle that we grow in hard times. I sometimes refer to them as ‘growing pains’. And these experiences have certainly strengthened my ‘bouncebackability’ for sure.

😁 ’Maryism’ disclaimer reminder ‘I am always doing the best I can with the resources I have at this time’