Stop Comparing Yourself to Other Cancer Survivors

This breast cancer survivor believes each of us is precious and unique, and that is helpful to stop comparing ourselves to each other.

BY Barbara Tako

PUBLISHED March 11, 2018

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.

What kind of cancer survivor does a cancer survivor want to hear about? It really is very specific. We want to hear a success story about someone with exactly the same cancer diagnosis we have, or slightly worse, who is alive and doing well as a survivor for many more years than we currently have under our own belts. Did you know that? Be careful when you share with cancer survivors. Do not add to a cancer patient's fear. In fact, we all just need to stop comparing.

Support groups, both online and in person, can be difficult with this tendency to compare. I know this personally. You see, I have been looking at a lot of boobs online lately as I approach my own prophylactic double mastectomy with reconstruction. These boobs, in the snarky mastectomy world I am now entering, are sometimes called “foobs,” as in fake boobs. Some of the online pictures I have seen are fantastic and amazing. Some, well, are honestly quite scary.

Read More -- Stop Comparing