Ok, this has been on my mind and heart for a couple weeks now and I’m really hoping someone can give me some advice. Ever since making my cancer journey such a public one, I’ve received a lot of accolades. Considering ‘words of affirmation’ are one of my top love languages, you’d think I’d be thrilled by this. Don’t get me wrong, I do love it! It makes me smile and feels great. At the same time, I’m finding it’s also quite overwhelming. I’m finding that I don’t know what to say back to people when they tell me I’m amazing, awesome, incredible, etc. For a while, I said thank you, but it just doesn’t seem like the right thing. Or maybe thank you just doesn’t seem like enough? I don’t know. I’d like to believe that anyone in my position, faced with this battle, would be doing exactly what I’m doing….being human and doing whatever it takes to stay healthy and alive. So, why does this make me special? When I say “thank you”, it feels like I’m thank them for complimenting me, and that certainly doesn’t feel right. I don’t ever want people to think I’m sharing my journey just because I want or need to be complimented.

Again, I am in no way saying I don’t want to be told these beautiful and kind words or that I don’t greatly appreciate all of them. They DO feel wonderful. I’m just at a loss as to how to respond. I’ve started to say “Thank you. I appreciate you”, but not sure that’s really much different.

Can you relate to this at all? Have you had a situation like this in your life? Do you have any words that may help me as I grapple with this one? As always, this post is written 100% from a place of love, honesty and gratitude.