There was something about Tyesha's confidence which impressed me since the first day we met. (Here I was a recent college graduate, nervous about starting my first full time job and faced with the difficulty of learning over a hundred employee names and quick. Since I started so early in the morning, there weren't too many people in the office - yet she made it a point to introduce herself to me and we quickly found a similarity over our love of books. Over time our friendship has evolved and for that I am thankful.) This confidence exudes with how she tackles the challenges she encounters in life. Tyesha is also the author of I Am Not My Hair: A Young Woman's Journey and Triumph Over Breast Cancer - click here to purchase your copy.
As I approached the thirty milestone, I never felt devastated that
I would no longer honestly say, “I’m twenty something.” I did not harp on those
things I had yet to accomplish. I was simply ready to embrace the next stage of
my life. I had not made big plans to celebrate my thirtieth. I knew I wanted to
do something memorable but had not nailed it down to a specific plan – a party;
trip; intimate gather with loved ones.
However, three months shy of my thirtieth birthday; I was
diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Goals of making plans for a big-to-do
instantly became inconsequential. Nothing else mattered accept the season ahead
- the road to survivorship.
As I was rushed to the hospital, on my 30th birthday,
due to complications from a reconstruction procedure after a bi-lateral
mastectomy, the plan and goal for getting well and to continue enjoying life
was all that mattered. I wanted nothing other than to have more birthdays; more
times with my loved ones; more time to live and enjoy life.
How I view milestones now: I believe I was something special in my
[late] twenties – maturing in womanhood; learning from life’s lessons;
ambitious; growing wiser and stronger. Cancer has grown me so much more. In a
way, I thank cancer for impacting my life. I look at all I’ve accomplished from
my experience with cancer and how much I’ve grown – mentally, emotionally,
spiritually, socially, interpersonally, compassionately, and communally.
I’ve definitely evolved since my twenties and have already had
some amazing growth and accomplishments in my early thirties. Not that I’m
rushing it, but I will be ready to embrace thirty-five and forty. As I reflect
on my life and the lives I’ve touched sharing my experiences of adversity and
triumph, I find myself thinking, if this is how much I’ve grown, I’m going
to be remarkable in my forties and I’ll simply be happy to be healthy and alive
to see it.
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