I went to the first of the HOPE course sessions on Tuesday night.
The course is being facilitated by Daphne and Shirley two of the ladies from the Big C who I know I have talked about before; they are just brilliant people!
We talked about breathing techniques for relaxation, practicing gratitude and goal setting. They are things I already do to a certain extent but it’s always good to see things from a different perspective and to get a structure to frame them. I think I will benefit from taking time to document my gratitude diary rather than just thinking about it when I think about it if you know what I mean 🙂
What I felt was really beneficial to me (and this really surprised me) was the opportunity to meet with other people in a similar situation. There are 8 of us on the course and unusually (for the course) we are all women and our experience is breast cancer.
We all have different diagnoses and treatment plans but we are all facing similar issues in one way or another.
As an example, just as I start to relax and drift off I have an adrenaline rush type panic starting from the centre of my chest, I have no explanation for it, can’t see what triggers it, and I am not alone in that! We didn’t get to what causes it but knowing that others have the same experiences somehow makes them less scary!
I have not previously engaged in group activities; I thought I wouldn’t get much out of hearing other people’s stories but I actually found it very interesting and reassuring in a strange kind of way. When the course finished, three of us were chatting outside the door for another 20 minutes before we went to our cars… no surprise there… but I really think that these new relationships we are forming could be lasting ones.
As always, I will let you know how I get on …
Talk to you soon
Lots of love Mand xxx