I also had the opportunity this past weekend to be part of a panel discussion at a women's event in Kindersley by Dahling Productions entitled "Stay Gold: She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes". The panel, composed of five women from the Kindersley area including myself, had the opportunity to share experiences with the hope that our stories would impact others in positive ways. My portion of the panel focused on my leadership role as principal and on my cancer experience. It was a good chance for me to become even more reflective of the past year of my life.
Through all of it, I think the one underlying belief that has guided me in all aspects of my life is my need to be as positive as I can be regardless of what is happening. Whether I was overseeing the final year of operation of the little school in Major, taking on a new principalship in Kerrobert, moving to a new community and guiding my two younger kids through the transition of going to a new school, seeing my oldest son enter the workforce, or dealing with my cancer diagnosis, I was swamped with life changes but was determined not to become overwhelmed and driven to despair.
And that brings me to this post's theme: choice. While we can't change some of the things that happen to us, we can choose how we react to those things and our actions afterward. Specifically with my cancer, perhaps there are preventative things that might have reduced my risk of developing breast cancer, but I can't change that a lump was discovered and that treatment needed to follow. What I could do though, was ensure that I was not going to let my cancer become an overwhelming negative thing that would destroy me. I became determined to do everything I could, with the help of family, friends, and a multitude of community support to keep a positive mindset through it all. And as I dealt with things, one by one, they became manageable and short-lived, and I discovered new strengths in myself that I didn't know I had or were dormant and awaiting an opportunity to be rediscovered. I jokingly told my sister-in-law that I felt that the radiation treatments were turning me into a superhero, since I felt stronger and more energetic with each one instead of tired like the cancer clinic had warned. (Hmmm if I could choose a superpower, I wonder what it would be??)
I think our ability to choose our actions holds true in many aspects of our life; we can choose to help others or be self-interested; we can choose to think the best of people or think the worst; we can choose to push ourselves to discover new strengths or we can wallow in self-pity. The choice is ours to make.
Stay Gold Women's event
