For some reason I have been putting off writing this blog, even though I have a mountain of thoughts about this day. This time last year, I woke up to find out that I was a Stage IV, Colon Cancer patient at the age of 27.

Zig Zigler once said, “Most obstacles melt away when we make up our minds to boldly walk through them.” I believe it would be a fair statement to say that cancer is a sizable obstacle. One of which I never thought I would have to face, much less when my life was merely starting. Yet, somehow when the life changing news of my cancer was uttered, I was immediately determined to overcome this obstruction and use it as a tool to learn about life, the purpose of this result and ultimately discover who I am and what I am capable of doing.

I could drone on about all of the dire things that come along with the cancer package, but truthfully I have learned that it’s not healthy to focus on the negative, but rather the positive. It’s mind over matter. Of course not every day is hopeful and cheery, but I am certainly putting all of my energy into healing after the most difficult year of my entire life. I’ve been happy, miserable, strong, weak; yet through it all, my entire mission has been to foster positive identity building. Am I 100%? Absolutely not. Am I cured? Not quite. But more importantly, I have been afforded a quality of life and have been gifted another year to enjoy my family, my friends, my dog and my loving husband.

I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel about this day, as it quickly approached. I was certain that I would be sad and in a sense of mourning for the life that I shed the day I was diagnosed. However, it was quite the opposite. Last night I went out with my friends, enjoyed a fine evening of divine live music and contentedly got inebriated for the first time in a year. So, essentially I didn’t spend the day down and blue in bed, but rather hung over on the couch and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Thank you a million times over to every person that has supported me along my cancer journey in the past year. The journey will continue and I will have many more cancerversaries to come and I can only hope to be as grateful as I am today, for gratitude is everything.