There's no going back

I have been atttending a support group for Adolescent and Young Adults (AYA) with cancer. The group is for people aged 18-39, as this group has unique needs that differ from typical cancer patients. This has been nice, as many of the cancer wards I have seen I have not felt like I fit in, like I belong- largely due to the age difference of the other folks. Dealing with cancer at a younger age has a different set of challenges then typical aged patients. Additionally, survival rates for this age group have not increased in over 25 years whereas other age groups have seen significant improvements. I believe one of the factors in this is that my age group has a lot of rare cancers that are not typically seen. When we went around the table doing introductions, the vast majority of people have something rare- in a weird way I felt comforted by that.

I have been thinking that after surgery and recouping, that life will go back to normal, and I can't wait for life to get back to normal.  The biggest thing I learned from the last session is that there is no going back to normal.  There was a definite consensus among the group that you can't go back.  So I am shifting my thinking, instead of trying to get back to normal, I am looking forward to a new normal. This is good to learn now, instead of a year from now when I am still waiting for things to go back to normal and frustrated that they haven't. Now I know not to wait, and to be proactive in creating my new normal. I am not sure what that is, and it will take on many iterations along the way. It does however, allow me some creative freedom in creating this new normal. I am very excited.