Living Life with a Sense of Urgency After Breast Cancer

A survivor shares how living at a fast pace has affected her in positive and negative ways.

BY Bonnie Annis

PUBLISHED November 04, 2019

Bonnie Annis is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in 2014 with stage 2b invasive ductal carcinoma with metastasis to the lymph nodes. She is an avid photographer, freelance writer/blogger, wife, mother and grandmother.

A strange phenomenon has occurred in my life since receiving a breast cancer diagnosis. As a type A personality, I’ve always been the typical overachiever focused on doing and being my best, but since celebrating five years of survivorship, I’ve found myself progressing at warp speed. There’s a sense of urgency to life that I can’t quite explain.

For the past few years, I’ve been experiencing an overwhelming desire to get things done. Pushing myself to the limit each day has been exhausting. Making myself physically ill, I’ve done everything in my power to reach self-imposed goals. The sense of urgency upon me has felt like an invisible hand propelling me forward. I find myself going and doing even when my strength has been exhausted. This feeling has caused me to struggle. From the moment I wake until late in the evening, I am busy going, planning, pushing, striving, trying to squeeze every split second out of each 24-hour day. It almost feels like a disease worse than cancer. But at least with cancer there are specific tools to evaluate and diagnosis the disease. I can’t help but wonder if others might experience it, too.  

Read the full post: