Sally Wolf, CEO and Founder of LightWorks, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Cancer isn’t a choice.
But wearing a tutu to a scan absolutely is.
Here’s why I did just that, and what 10 years of survivorship have taught me about mindset, meaning, and magic.
A few years ago, I needed to schedule three scans to investigate some new pains.
Sitting scared in my oncologist’s office, I looked at the calendar for the next few weeks.
And then I smiled.
“Can I do one of the scans on February 22?”
My oncologist was indifferent, but I was inspired.
Having danced my way through cancer, 2/22/22 felt like an obvious choice. On a date of all twos, I had this vision of wearing one of my many tutus to the scan.
To be clear, I knew I wouldn’t be able to dance, or even move, as I lay still in that narrow scan tube. And as it turned out, unlike in PETs where I wear my street clothes, the MRI required a most unfun hospital gown.
But I still kept the tutu on for all the prep, which not only made me happy, but also made the hospital staff smile.
I might not get to choose all these scans, how many, or which ones, or what the results will be.
But I can always control at least a piece of the experience, and in those seemingly small slices of agency, I find so much genuine joy.
A little silliness.
A little Sally-ness.
A moment to shine my own light in the dark.
And when we choose to do that, we don’t just shift our own experience. We also quietly shift the room.
Would I prefer to be cured, to never need another scan? Absolutely.
But choice is the superpower that remains in the wake of the challenges we cannot control. When we can’t undo the diagnosis, the accident, or the loss, or whatever else, we can still control the mindset with which we meet it.
A mindset that makes meaning, and sometimes even magic.
One day – or tutu scan – at a time.
Let’s inspire each other:
What magic have you brought to the mundane?
Photo: Radioactively rocking my rainbow tutu.”
Other articles featuring Sally Wolf on OncoDaily.
