Pizza of…

...Reintrajectorization!

And you’re saying, what the hell is that?  Perfectly good question and of course I’ll explain.

At RealTime Cancer’s Retreat Yourself 2005, we had 27 survivors from across Canada here in Newfoundland.  On the first night we were identifying the key issues we faced as young adults dealing with cancer.  Travis Gobeil, a survivor buddy from Ontario, coined the terms “disintrajectorization” and “reintrajectorization”.

In case it isn’t readily apparent what they mean… disintrajectorization is all the crap that goes down when your cancer diagnosis arrives, it is the disconnection from the life you had been leading up to that point, which may or may not involve a dissection from all the things, people and goals that were in your life the minute before cancer arrived officially.  On the other end is reintrajectorization, which is the process of reconnecting, reentering if you will, your old life, or some reasonable and hopefully much more amazing version of it!

A month ago I was in Calgary at RealTime Cancer’s Survivor Conference, with 30 young adult survivors, 4-5 facilitators and two of the ladies from our office.  We were there to help survivors make a plan to ensure the rest of their life is the best of their life.  In a time when so many are chasing a “cure” I feel that sometimes the challenges of survivorship, the time after treatment, are overlooked.  Cancer doesn’t end when the chemo stops, the whole experience, good, bad, triumphs and challenges are present long after we leave the cancer clinic.  A big part of our mission is to help with that process… help young adult survivors “reintrajectorize”.

The Survivor Conference program was based on the concept of a “wheel of life”, which has a variety of pieces, such as family/friends, community, physical health, etc.  We customized the “wheel” and made it the wheel of “reintrajectorization” as that was the focus of the conference, reintrajectorizing.  I thought my wheel looked like a pizza, so I customized mine a little further.  Thus the subject of this message.

Ok, enough background; which you know I like to give!!

To start the event we all ranked ourselves in the 8 areas of the wheel.  Throughout the weekend we had sessions focusing specific areas of the wheel and ultimately started to outline steps/actions we could take to help enhance, if not balance, our wheel.  During this process and the course of the weekend I participated in a variety of discussions relating to balance and the question of should our wheels be balanced, i.e. when we do our rankings, which start with a 0 at the centre of the wheel and a 10 at the perimeter, should our main objective be to have a round wheel?

As much fun as it may be for those of us who love their work, is it healthy to have work rated a 10 at the expense of physical health or family/friends which may be a 2 or 3?

On the surface that seems to be an easy question, but another consideration could be that some of us are ok with one or many areas ranking lower than others.  But the point of my wonder is not about whether we’re ok with that, but rather, is it the “best” path forward? (i.e. is it the path that is most sustainable and most likely to lead to a happy and fulfilling life?)

To my surprise I think by the end of the Survivor Conference I had worked myself to a place where I felt, with great conviction, that the “best” wheels are those that are well-rounded, no major valleys or bumps.  In other words we should all be striving to have a round wheel, or balanced life.

Yes that is a question, as I don’t have the answer, perhaps you do. I know my Dad has suggested the concept of moderation to me several million times… I still struggle with it.  The continued evolution of this for me is that as I get older (which is not the same as growing up) I am having many experiences that reinforce this balance concept.

What’s right for you or anyone else? Really that is a personal choice.  The very important part for me is that we make that choice consciously, as opposed to unconsciously.  The review of my wheel of reintrajectorization was another reminder for me to review priorities, the choices I’m making and see how smooth a ride I’m having and will have if I keep things the way they are.

My reality is things have to change, and they will.

Always…

Live life.  Love life.

Geoff