Who are you?
- You’re a current/former/future patient (aren’t we all?), a friend or relative of one, or just a human being interested in living life.
- You’re a healthcare professional, a carer, or any other sort of miracle worker (oh yes you are) making lives better.
- You’re a charity, business or other organisation with the opportunity – and desire – to make the world better.
Who am I?
- I’m a writer (hint: that’s where the words on this blog came from).
- I’m a speaker (some people are terrified of public speaking. I’m not).
- I’m a human being – and I think you are, too.
What are Better Fools?
“Make something foolproof, and they’ll invent a better fool”
However hard we try to protect ourselves from the unexpected, it always has the upper hand. You can’t predict the unexpected. However foolproof we think our plans, there will always be a better fool.
Let’s be the better fool. Let’s accept that some things are out of our control? Even when events occur for which we need to take a degree – small or large – of responsibility, let’s accept they’ve happened and avoid lingering on the ‘what ifs’ and ‘could haves’ and ‘should haves’. Let’s stop spending all our energy worrying about what might happen tomorrow (clue: it might not).
There are things we cannot control. So where does our power lie? Maybe – and I know this isn’t always easy, so it might take practice, thought and determination – we can decide how we want to react. How we want our lives to be – regardless of uncontrollable, external events – day to day, minute to minute.
I happen to have had cancer
I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when I was 23. I finished treatment when I was 25. After five years, I was statistically a survivor. I relapsed six months later. After struggling into remission with the help of an unproven clinical trial, I had a stem cell transplant from an anonymous stranger. He saved my life. Woohoo!
I’m still alive. I will keep living as long as I am. And when one day I am no longer alive, I’ll stop living. But while I’m here, I won’t let the random misfortunes of my health stop me doing all I can to make the most of every day. The better fool doesn’t care what life throws up – the fool will seek, create and discover the joy, whatever the circumstances.