Beneath it all, this has been the true challenge all along. Cancer entering my life at the age of 33 tried very hard to make me want to hate myself, to hate my body, and to hate the world for putting my family through something so traumatic. And it's not just cancer that tried so hard to make me a hateful person, but people that had failed me and let me down, too. I've been so hurt, betrayed, and have felt so disappointed and abandoned by some. Cancer teaches you who your friends are and aren't very quickly, and that family isn't just blood. But my cancer journey isn't even half the story anymore. This decade of my 30's has been extraordinary, in some of the worst possible ways.
Life has tried really hard to make me a hardened, hateful, and bitter person. And I've flat out refused. I've refused to let all of this destroy me. It may have burned me to the ground several times, but I've always gotten back up again, determined more than ever to grow and to do whatever I've needed to do to evolve myself past the challenges that life has thrown my way. I've taught myself to love instead of hate, to forgive despite having been so hurt, and to not let these multitude of life challenges ruin me as a person.
Don't let your challenges destroy you. Grow past them. Our lives continue to be extraordinary in ways that are unfathomable to most, but we're not letting that stop us from becoming the people that we aspire to be, nor from living the lives that we want to live. Be Soft.
StevePake.com
