i think i am cool now…
Me celebrating finishing up cancer treatment in December of 2010
I went out and made my name a website. LOOK AT ME!! I am cool now (I think , right?) It’s cool to have your own website right? OMG, I am already sounding so unsure of myself. Well, whatever. It’s been just about 10 years since I was diagnosed with cancer. So, it’s been 10 years since I started my original blog which I named 32AB (32 years old after breast cancer, hence the age at my diagnosis). Then, after the first year or so I lived as a cancer survivor, I left that blog and tried to go back to my original life. Oh, btw, that didn’t work out at all. See, once you go through a trauma, you tend to become a different person. Nothing wrong with that but if you fail to realize that early on, it’s a problem. That was me. I am still trying to figure it out and it has been almost 10 years. I guess that’s why it took me almost 10 years to start danastewart.com and start writing again. Who knows where it will take me but I am ready to find out.
Aside from freaking out about cancer 24-7 I love a whole a bunch of other stuff too. I am book worm and pretty sure I could start my own Barnes and Nobles branch in my spare bedroom with all the books I have that I haven’t read yet. Don’t worry, I’ll get to them all, or at least that is what I keep telling myself.
I am stationary, planner, paper, sticker, markers and pen obsessed. Like BIG TIME. I am that person that has a new planner, a new notebook, a new pen, or whatever, like every month. I am proud of that (and maybe I find it a tad bit annoying that I can’t keep with one planner/notebook at any point in time.)
I love to travel and lucky for me my job provides for that often. Although I write this smack dab in the middle of the Covid-19 outbreak, at some point, I look forward to being in the friendly skies again.
I love baseball and I am a die-hard Cubs fan. That’s all I need to say about that.
I have a cat named Kramer is my little side kick and keeps me company.
So what’s next? Who knows. I spend a lot of my time fighting my cancer fears, figuring out a way outrun the fear that always keeps pace with me. I have PTSD from cancer so there is plenty I can’t remember but I am working on it daily. Trauma is something we can’t plan for. It’s how we react. I am still a massive work in progress, but that is cool. I came up with my mantra of ACCEPT BELIEVE CONQUER and that seemed to be one of the things that helps me kick the cancer fear’s you-know-what.
ACCEPT what has happened to me (the cancer diagnosis)
BELIEVE in the decisions I made for my treatment. Believe in my doctors and the treatment they gave me. Just believe.
CONQUER the cancer fears just one day at a time.
Lastly, I started a non-profit with my mom called THE DRAGONFLY ANGEL SOCIETY - CANCER SURVIVORSHIP. The goal is to help cancer survivors find their way. It’s a one-stop website for resources, a blog, cancer stories, and so much more.
So, here I am with a little about me and why I think I am cool for starting my own website and re-starting my blog again.