Chemo Kind of Life

Yesterday I joined into a conversation a couple people were having about whether or not they should visit a friend in the hospital's chemo department. They knew that their friend would be having injections for several hours and they feared the scene would be very depressing. I politely asked if I could interject some thoughts on the subject. Beings that I have spent many hours visiting people with cancer I knew first hand the mood surrounding such a place. I assured them that the scene they had created in their mind was far from the actual experience they would have. A bit confused they asked me what I meant. I went on to explain that in that room were people were receiving treatments you would find laughter, jovial discussions, upbeat moods, singing, reading, and heck some may even be dancing. Naturally they were a bit confused at why the attitude in a place like that would be uplifting instead of depressing, my answer was simple, these people understood the value of life. Do you?

As you reflect on what I just wrote, which by the way is true, consider your life for just a brief moment. You have read my words many times where I say "there are people praying for the things we take for granted". When something like cancer enters your life or the sudden loss of a loved one, it becomes crystal clear that the things we take for granted can and will someday be taken from us. Life is a delicate, intricate, complex structure that is further complicated by our conditioning and belief that we can't merge attitude with behavior. Seriously, think about it for a minute. I bet I can make a believer out of you. Did you know that NOBODY makes you angry, you choose anger as a response. Yes, it's true, you really do. That ranks up there with drama. Remember DRAMA does not come into your life, you either accept it, participate in it, or create it yourself. I hope I am raising some eyebrows because it is this destructive behavior that forces us to take life for granted. 

I believe I have shared this story more times than I could count, so this morning I am going to give you the condensed version. Several years ago I met a wonderful lady on the ride to The Cancer Treatment Center of America in Zion IL. Her name was BJ and she was battling stage 4 lung cancer. This was her last HOPE to live. When I first met her she was very down. She knew her time was limited yet she had so much more she wanted to do. I ran into BJ a few days later inside the hospital and she was riding on a cloud. This girl was smiling, looked great, I mean she was beaming. I said "girl did the cure you", her words she responded with have stuck with me for life. She said "honey they gave me HOPE". Keep in mind BJ still had stage 4 lung cancer but they gave her something bigger than medicine, they gave her hope which becomes the desire for life. I have no idea if BJ lived one week, one month, or one year, but what I do know for a fact is that she LIVED until she died. 

I have to ask the question, are you living right now? There are many that sit in those chemo treatment rooms that would tell you that they did not place any value on life. They would tell you that they stayed stressed out over the most mundane things that in the big scheme of life bared no importance at all. They would tell you that they regretted getting mad at the person that cut them off in traffic, or the server at the restaurant that they treated with indifference. They would tell you that they should have taken more risk and lived their lives more fully. They would tell that we should always LIVE our dreams through our own lives and not through the lives of others. They would tell you that the things that we got bitter about were actually not even worthy of our energy. They would tell you that LIFE is worth living the minute you choose to live it. The best thing they would tell you is that you can DREAM and live as long as you have a breath in your body. 

Life is about having the courage to climb the mountain to see the view from the top and breath in the fresh crisp air. It is about leaving your space here on this wonderful earth better than you found it. Your life has so much more value than you could ever imagine and when you finally realize your self worth I assure you that you will stop giving people discounts. We all owe it to ourselves, our family, our neighbors, and our friends to be the absolute best version of ourselves possible. That means pushing the limits, breaking the barriers, going against the grain, and learning that anything is possible once you choose to believe. We must stop being our own obstacles on the road to hope. It is time to stop analyzing the what if's and go out and grab life by the horns. Mistakes are proof you are trying so do not allow fear to be your roadblock. When you find yourself surrounded by people that bring you down, go visit a group of people that you think are dying and they will build you up. The ones you think should be depressed are the ones that understand and fully believe the value of life. 

The wonderful amazing people that sit in those treatment rooms share dreams about life. They are still living and breathing, they have hope, they have love and they have an appreciation for life that you may take for granted. Remember we can all live a dream but in order for that to happen you have to choose to live. We all have the opportunity to live until we die. Living is the rarest thing on earth because most people simply exist. This is your life and I hope you will do everything in your power to rise up and give it all you got. Treat everyone with the utmost respect, you do not know the battle they are fighting, so lift them up in love and I assure you that in return your life will get better as well. Let's not wasted any more time reading, we have a life to go out and live.

peace and love

Dale