Reflections on a Wanderlust Spirit!

Turning your hopes and dreams into reality can sometimes be challenging and even risky. My entire life I have lived with a wanderlust spirit. I have a strong desire to experience and witness the vast diversities that exist upon our planet. I feel that exposing myself to different lands and cultures enlightens me, and gives me a broader, more sensitive view of the world, in which I live.

Living with chronic cancer makes this wanderlust spirit a bit more difficult to fulfill, as making plans, travelling and being far from home and medical care is a little scary, but I have reached a state of mind that what will be, will be: Que sera sera.

I refuse to allow the "what ifs" to come into play when planning a trip and bank on the "well if it happens" then I will deal, to prevail. I will face whatever comes along, and not worry about whether or not something will go wrong. (because it almost always does!)

My greatest fear of becoming ill, while in a foreign country did occur while we were in Bucharest. I got slammed with a chest cold, fast and hard. I considered cutting our trip short and flying home, fearful that that virus could turn into something much worse than a cold.

The sights of the world leave me speechless!

After emailing my oncologist, and his encouraging words of, "I believe that you should be able to weather that virus." I stuck it out, rested, treated the symptoms and overcame my worst fear. I must admit, I was a little scared, but in the end, I was so darn proud of my body!
The worst had happened and I had survived!

Often, we allow fear to dictate our lives, which can prevent us from living them. I am hoping that conquering my greatest fear will allow me to continue to follow my wanderlust spirit on many more adventures.

That being said, I also must allow myself the time to rest and recuperate and to listen to this tired old body! lol After returning from our six-week trek through Europe, I attended our monthly dance, taught Country 2 Step and danced way too many dances!

I have been down and out ever since with nerve pain in my feet and a flare of skin and bone pain. Apparently, sometimes you have to pay, to play! And that is alright, too!

There is always light at the end of the tunnel!

For those of you that are newly diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, or any other chronic disease, allow yourself time to adjust to your disease and your treatment; I am eight years into this journey, and looking back, the first two to three years were rough.

I still managed to live my life, enjoy adventures with my friends and family, but I had more downtime. My body needed more time to rally between my excursions, and that is alright. Know that if you wait to feel "great" to enjoy your life, you may never enjoy anything again.

But also know that when you push yourself to do something that you do enjoy, your mental state will feel "great" which in turn, will help your physical self to heal. Finding joy makes the hurt a little less painful, and a little easier to endure.

Living and loving life

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