Downsizing to a smaller living space means this survivor has to decide what to keep and what to give away. Journaling and taking photographs helps this survivor preserve memories, rather than keeping too many belongings.
BY Barbara Tako
PUBLISHED December 29, 2017
Barbara Tako is a breast cancer survivor (2010), melanoma survivor (2014) and author of Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools–We'll Get You Through This. She is a cancer coping advocate, speaker and published writer for television, radio and other venues across the country. She lives, survives, and thrives in Minnesota with her husband, children and dog. See more at www.cancersurvivorshipcopingtools.com,or www.clutterclearingchoices.com.
To make our downsized house feel more like a home that fits us and celebrate our first holidays here, my husband and I have begun to make small home improvements and weed out clutter. The clutter is his, mine, ours, and Mom's (my mom died from metastatic breast cancer this summer in the middle of our home move to downsize). Weeding out, deciding what to treasure and what to toss, is an emotional process for me. It brings back sad memories as well as a lot of very wonderful memories, and yes, I still have my "cancer box" with wigs and more "just in case."
As a clutter clearing speaker-author and as a cancer survivor, I weed through stuff and think about the memories. I am saddened at the memories that will be lost and I am working to accept that the fading of those memories is part of life.
Cancer survivors are more aware of the passage of time and their own mortality than some, I think. How do we cope with everything that we have lost and will yet become lost? I contemplate that as I weed out.
As a clutter clearing speaker-author and as a cancer survivor, I weed through stuff and think about the memories. I am saddened at the memories that will be lost and I am working to accept that the fading of those memories is part of life.
Cancer survivors are more aware of the passage of time and their own mortality than some, I think. How do we cope with everything that we have lost and will yet become lost? I contemplate that as I weed out.
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