LBCUK Patron, Josie Lloyd journaled all the way through her diagnosis and treatment for Lobular Breast Cancer in 2017, turning her experience into a best-selling novel, The Cancer Ladies’ Running Club. Here she shares why she believes that journaling is one of the best
tools we have to help our well-being during and post cancer treatment.
When I got diagnosed with cancer, I was overwhelmed with how out of control I felt, suddenly on a conveyor-belt of appointments and bad news. Worse was the feeling of being re-defined – of having a a big ‘Cancer’ label slapped on me. It felt as if that was all anyone could see about me. Cancer seeped into my every thought and invaded every corner of my life.
As a writer my first instinct was to turn to my notebook to write down these new emotions. As soon as I did, I quickly realised that this was the key to getting control of my mindset. Journaling has many well-documented benefits, but I believe it’s especially helpful when going through cancer.
The key to getting started is to take micro-steps. Just make a tiny daily habit of writing down how you’re feeling. Open a notes page on your phone, or computer, or get a notepad to keep by your bed. It doesn’t have to be fancy or ordered. My notebooks are littered with doodles and to-do lists.
So what are the benefits of Journaling?
Firstly, it reduces stress by giving you an outlet to process information and emotions that are sometimes too overwhelming to share – even with the people closest to you. We often end up masking how we feel to spare others.
Putting down these strong emotions in a contained space is SUPER helpful. You can rage and be angry. Nobody needs to know. Try writing a letter to cancer. Get it all out. Then leave it on the page and move on. You don’t need to re-visit the painful bits and read back. There’s a lot of power in turning the page and starting afresh.
Studies have shown that writing about your deepest thoughts and feelings can improve your mood and give you a greater sense of well-being, which in turn lowers your blood pressure.
Visualise yourself being well. Project ahead to the future you – how you’ll look and feel. Be specific about where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing. Writing visualisations like these will not only give you hope but will give you a bridge to the future. It’s a great way of reminding yourself that how you feel right now will pass.
Journaling involves cognitive diffusion. This is where you write down thoughts and can then view them objectively. It’s really easy to catastrophise and get into a negative thought spiral, especially when you’re feeling vulnerable, sick and scared. Writing down these thoughts as sentences helps you to see whether what you’re telling yourself is actually true or not.
Start by writing ‘I’m having the thought that…’ and really articulate what your thoughts are. In this way you are able to see that you are not your thoughts. And quite often your thoughts don’t serve you.
Journaling can help you figure out your next step. If you feel taken over by cancer, then journaling is your roadmap out. I wrote down things I wanted to be different in my life: For example, I had been busy for 30 years. Taking care of myself as a priority had been bottom of my list, but now cancer made me realise that in the future, it needed to be number one.
Journaling also helped me to see that a mid-life shake-up was no bad thing and that I had the chance to change my future. You can use your private time in your journal to dream big. Write your bucket list and make it as wonderful and outlandish as you can.
Journaling can be a helpful way of turning a negative mindset into a positive one by tuning into gratitude. Writing a list of things that you’re grateful – however tiny, is the best way of getting a better perspective. Moving away from your own worries and seeing the bigger picture helps reduce the feeling of overwhelm.
Journaling is ultimately the best way to get to know yourself better. It may be that on some days you can’t see the positive in anything and might just feel sorry for yourself and low and that’s OK too. Remember that our emotions are like our internal weather. There are grim stormy days, but the sun always comes out eventually.