Write (Or Cut And Paste) Your Way Through Cancer

Two-time cancer survivor shares how journaling can help get you through cancer.

BY Barbara Tako

PUBLISHED August 31, 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.

Journaling through cancer helped keep me sane (or at least saner) through my cancers. When something in life is really intense and my brain keeps spinning thoughts around and around, I journal. Long before my first talk therapist suggested keeping a journal, I was privately writing about my angst to get through everything rather than to drown. The fact that my first therapist and all subsequent ones suggested journaling just reinforced that maybe I was onto something – something helpful, effective and less crazy-making than cancer itself.

First, let go of any pre-conceived ideas about what journaling is. There is no one right way to journal. A journal can be hand-written or typed. A journal can be drawn or sketched or even pictures clipped from magazines. A journal can be added to daily, several times a day or simply whenever you need to journal. A journal can be a rant, a detailed observation, a list, a letter never mailed, a copy of a letter or an email someone sent to you. It could also be a travel log – maybe a travel log of your life experiences.

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