When I finally got home from hospital in 2022, still in a wheelchair and with a then-pessimistic life expectancy, I wrote 7 daily meditations to pop up on my phone throughout the week. They're still there. Here's my Thursday meditation:

"It's not always about you and your illness."

My cancer hit so suddenly and so hard, my family put everything on hold, and I'd been surrounded by doctors and nurses rushing in and out for so long, it was important to remind myself that that's not normal or sustainable. My life was permanently changed, but even the people closest to me needed to take their fingers off the pause button and start living their own lives again.

It didn't mean that I stopped asking for (and getting) support, or that I stopped talking about my cancer and disability; it just meant that my cancer didn't have to be the topic of *every* conversation or the centre of attention in the room *all* the time. It's definitely an adjustment, realising that something so important to you doesn't loom as big in everyone else's life, but I think it's an important step towards learning to live with cancer.