- the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year."the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain"
I think we all remember the Queen having an annus horribilis, well for many of us 2020 will definitely fit the bill on that score. Anniversaries can be a dual edged sword. We have the good ones when we celebrate or commemorate the length of time passed such as birthday, wedding or when something significant and good happened. Others are not so good such as the death of a loved one or something bad happening.
For me, I have a number of significant anniversaries at the moment that are memorable for all the wrong reasons. Recently it was 12 months since I received my breast cancer diagnosis and today is the day one year ago that I had my surgery. I have many negative associations with both of those events but in an effort to maintain the tenuous link to my sanity, I am trying to focus on the positives. I’m lucky that I got an early diagnosis due to the NHS screening programme. I’m lucky that the NHS were there to look after me and move quickly to have surgery and treatment that will have ultimately saved or at the very least prolonged my life. Lucky that so many friends and family were there to look after and support me. Kind words, flowers, gifts, hugs, cards, lifts to appointments, all these intended and did carry me through the dark times.
I said I was going to focus on the positives but I would be lying if I said there weren’t any difficult times and it’s important to acknowledge those. I won’t bore you with all the little details of the impact that cancer and it’s invasive treatment has on you and your family but I will say that it’s like that old analogy of dropping a stone into a pool. Those ripples are far reaching and often you feel like you’ve been hit by a wave instead. To stay with the water analogy, it’s also like those waves are eroding the coastline at times. The impact is not to be underestimated and it’s easy to think, it’s been a year, I should be ok now, things should be back to my normal. (Notice I said my normal, just so those of you who know me can’t say I was never normal - in honesty I never proclaimed I was 😂) It feels like it has gone very quickly but marking that passage of time also makes me realise I still have some way to go.
All of this set against a backdrop of a global pandemic. When I do things, I always do them well. This week I have been contemplating my anniversaries and my journey whilst coming to terms with lockdown 2. I have been speaking to many friends and colleagues struggling and on a level beyond the last lockdown. I can’t say I’m thrilled about it myself but we have to get through it. We all need to look out for each other and it’s also vitally important that we look after ourselves. Self-care is a word that’s bandied about quite a lot but it has never been more important and we shouldn’t feel guilty about taking time out to recharge our internal batteries.
So to you all, I have two things to ask.
1. Do something everyday that you enjoy and that is for you. However every small it might be.
2. If you get offered health screening don’t put if off just do it.
I’m off now to drink to my anniversary, along with a nice home cooked meal and a then a long soak in the bath with a good book.
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