Battle Scars

The battlefield never looks pretty after its over.There is damage and debris all over.The smell of smoke and burnt wreckage, the sensation of loss and emptiness, the echo of silence, the dampness of tears . A lot of work is needed to rebuild what once used to be. The scarring , the pain and remains of time gone by.

The toughest challenge in the fight with cancer is to work past what you used to be. The strength, the energy, the ignorance. Having seen more than you have wanted to, its hard to go back to the blissful ignorance.

How do you rebuild a house on a land that you know is prone to earth quakes? Do you really put effort to make everything again on shaky ground? Not sure whether that land has another earthquake in it…….. the one that is likely uproot all that you have put together… again.

I have no choice, its my land and that where my home is. This where I rebuild and pray for it stay intact.

I have to focus on building not what might wreck it but focus on healing from the scars of the battlefield. The ache in my arm reminds of the weight of the weaponry I once carried. The scar on my chest is my medal of honor. The stains of my nails tell me how I clung on to life through all of this . And what better reminder of war than a shaved head. All soldiers look alike in the battlefield so do all cancer patients.

Some return home , some don’t.They are both survivors in their own way, either returning to the bosom of their family or the arms of mother earth but they do belong somewhere. Somewhere where peace awaits them.

You rebuild your body , knowing its the body of a soldier, it needs to be in top shape should the call of battle come again. You build your mind, the mind of a warrior who can switch gears in an instance. Your body that has aged many years in few months, you mind has aged to the point that  death and dying are utter realities, not concepts that you wait for till ripe old age.

Just as physical scarring needs stretching and exercise , emotional scarring needs rehabilitation by stretching the mind and exercising gratitude daily. Living requires daily effort… without it , using breaths is futile .We need to do it, with or without cancer.