Obviously, my future life will be about treatment, prevention and vigilance. But the worst is over and prognosis is good. Celebrating tiny wins, I had to buy this for the first time in a year:

A year ago, a radiologist saw something. Dec 27 they confirmed cancer. The year has been about celebrating the tiny wins and bouncing back after the losses. Lucky for me, I had more wins than losses.

But im grateful for my privilege, too. I’m an upper-middle class, straight, white woman with no spouse or children. And I hope I can use that to be a safe ally for those in my circle who are facing the bleakest outlook for their personhood in 20 years.

As a token American, here are my things: my new job and colleagues are the absolute best. My students make me want to go to work. I’m almost done with the hardest parts of cancer treatment and the most recent tests show no evidence of disease.

Given the state of things in the US, it can be hard to see anything positive, more so things to be grateful for. But that means there is all the more reason to practice gratitude.

I think this is a good question if asked a little differently. I know there’s a lot of foo-foo-hooey around ‘practicing gratitude’ that comes as part of the mindfulness package. But when done right, mindfulness, meditation and gratitude have been shown to improve affect for a few mood disorders.

Unpopular opinion:
Loads of despicable people have made great art. We will still need to acknowledge these works. But now, we can stop lionizing the artists. Meanwhile, we actively seek out comparable works by underrepresented artists. And if the asshole is still alive, WE STOP BUYING THEIR WORK.