Staying Positive - Living with an Illness (Book Launch 1 March 2012)

Staying positive is easier said than done. Why would we stay positive when the world continues to throw negative things our way? This is a question that so many people ask themselves. Personally, not once have I asked myself this question – going through cancer or Tourettes. I guess it’s just in my genes to stay positive during the hard times that I face. However, even if this doesn’t come naturally to you it is something that you can learn. For without a positive attitude my life would have been very different.

There are numerous studies showing that those with positive attitudes when going through an illness are much more likely to get through than those with the alternative. I remember my first instincts when being diagnosed both times. When I was diagnosed with cancer I asked the doctor what the chances were of my survival. I can’t remember the exact figure now but it was somewhere around 90%. For me there is only one way to look at this and that is that the glass is more than half full and therefore no reason to look at it in a negative manner. The only way that I could possibly look at this diagnosis negatively would be if I focused on the other 10%. I have no idea why I would do that and no idea why anyone else would for that matter.

Although I had a fantastic survival chance I wouldn’t say that the same approach couldn’t be used for the opposite survival rate. Let’s say my cancer spread and was at stage 4 when diagnosed. My chances would have been around 10% of survival. I know in my mind that if that had happened I would certainly be focusing on being part of the quota of that 10% that do survive. Mentally it would have given me a challenge, a challenge to survive. This is a much better mentality than looking at it as a miracle to get through the illness.

I have already spoken several times about the importance of staying positive during the first 6 chapters of this book and will continue to do so for the remainder. This is honestly because I believe that staying positive is the single most important part of overcoming your illness. Smiling when you feel like frowning, laughing when you feel like crying. This is easier said than done but the honest truth is that the mind follows the body as the body follows the mind. This is physiologically proven. Therefore, it’s not hard to realise why the people who go through their illness with a positive attitude come out the other end much better off than those who don’t.

Just think if you are positive, your body will produce positive chemicals for your brain. These positive chemicals work differently to some drugs that we are given for the different illnesses we have in some respects, but in others they work identically. This is exactly why having a positive attitude during an illness can be beneficial. If you are positive and believe that you are getting better your body will follow your mind and will naturally begin to get better. I could talk about the medical experiments surrounding this space for hours but I think I have made my point in what is such a short paragraph.

Being positive, on the inside and out is a fantastic starting point to your road to recovery or your road to acceptance. Positivity may help your body recover, while it may also help you accept your diagnosis in a better light, a light that will see yourself living with an illness much better than otherwise.

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.”

Winston Churchill

Key Takeaway: It may be hard to stay positive, but it’s the single most important thing when dealing with an illness so it’s worth the effort

Everything I have just written has a very strong meaning, a meaning that should be understood by all people – sick or well. Positivity is not just something that should just be focused on by the ill but also by those around them. I also believe, ill or not, positivity is something that this world currently lacks. We are constantly rude to people in our everyday lives whether we mean it or not. Next time you get a coffee, take the time to have a quick chat to the person that’s serving you, give them a smile and thank them very much for the coffee. You may not realise what you have done (and you may have done absolutely nothing) but the likelihood of that person feeling like they had a positive encounter with you at work on that day could mean the difference between a good day and a bad day for them. I realise we live in a fast paced world but manners and positivity should never be forgotten. In the case of being positive for an illness I discussed the importance of allowing the body to follow the mind and in this space positivity is necessary. If you are someone that struggles to be generally positive I would recommend speaking to your doctor about it. With the way things are in today’s society it’s not and never should be embarrassing to see someone about your problems.

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