The Art of Inspiration

Do you ever feel down or like the world is just too much? We've all been there. It's during these tough times, that we need to find ways to inspire ourselves during our breast cancer journey.

One great way to do this is by creating art. Art can be paintings, custom clothing, hair accessories, handmade dolls, trays, planters, and so on.

When we create something beautiful, it can remind us that we are capable of more than we think.

You can use your art to inspire yourself and others and make the world a better place.

Ups and downs of my breast cancer journey

It seems as if at my lowest points during this metastatic breast cancer journey, people keep asking me to do things.

More often than not, the request will begin with, "I know you don’t feel well, but I need you to..." My first thought is almost always, if you know that I don’t feel well, then why in the hell are you asking me to do anything?

After a few moments, hours, or days, more than likely I end up fulfilling the request if it’s not too tasking or if I have the energy or the mindset to do it.

What’s amazing to me is when I’m feeling my worst and I do muster up enough energy to create something, the moment I’m like two or three minutes in, I began to feel a little bit better. I feel better and begin to work as if my health is fantastic like I don’t have a care in the world.

And then, without a moment's notice, I hit rock bottom. My breathing becomes shallow, my head begins to swim like a spinning top, and my vision becomes blurry all before hitting the ground.

My husband always says, don’t overdo it. Are you sure you wanna do this? You don’t look so hot. Lie down, rest. But I always act as if I’m surprised by my end results of hitting the floor after giving too much to a project that I didn’t pace myself for.

Giving back through art

Resin art is one of my all-time favorite art forms. So, recently my mom needed a planter for all of these small plants that she just had to have.

We looked all over for this landscaped planter that she saw in her head. The funny thing was her head didn’t notify her that what she wanted wasn’t sold in stores, Amazon, or anywhere else.

So she had this bright idea that I could create it. I, for a brief second, thought that I was Wonder Woman and that this was a great idea. I measured everything, came up with a supply list, sketched the design, decided that I would sleep on it, and become Bob the builder the next day.

So, the next day, I went and purchased all of the needed supplies, came home, and realized that this wasn’t a project that could be done in one day.

This time I was going to listen to my husband and take baby steps. Little did I know that baby steps would take four days. But the process of creating brought me a momentary respite from this disease and my own thoughts. And I felt useful.

How do you stay inspired living with MBC? How do you adapt to life with metastatic cancer?