5 Years

In the last 5 years I've gotten cancer, endured a hellish surgery that removed a quarter of my mouth, 4 teeth, and the adjacent jaw bone, got a prosthetic mouth to fill that missing portion, found out I was cancer free, couldn't eat solid food for months, dropped to 94 pounds because of that, suffered from severe vertigo and migraines due to my surgery, went into a deep depression, quit my job, moved in with my parents, went to therapy, worked hard on getting myself better, started working again part time, got a full time job, continued to work hard on myself, moved out of my parents house, somewhere along the lines found myself again, got a promotion at work, bought a condo.

My point is this:

"Life is amazing. And then it is awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful." -L.R. Knost

So don't give up. Ever. Can it suck and challenge you in ways you didn't think was humanly possible...or fair? Yes. Hell yes. But it will get better. I promise. Keep going. Slowly but surely, little by little, inch by inch. Put in the work - give a shit, not because someone tells you to, do it for yourself. I've said this a million times because I believe in it so deeply: You never really know how strong you are until you have to be. Give yourself a little credit, you will surprise yourself.

And BE THANKFUL. EVERYDAY.

Life can flip your world upside down in the blink of an eye. So wake up in the morning and be thankful. Do it again the next day. That mindset is seriously life changing. Don't let a cancer diagnosis be the reason you realize that.