Do you Need a Break? From What?

Yes, I DO!

The hardest part of fighting cancer, heart disease, and the echo of lost love isn’t just the physical weight. It’s the emotional exhaustion that quietly builds underneath everything else. Every appointment, every reminder, every memory asks me to be strong again and again. But even strength needs space to breathe.

Personal healing journey headshot — smiling man reflecting on taking a break during cancer journey, heart health recovery, and emotional healing.
Taking a break during my cancer journey — choosing rest, healing, and hope one moment at a time.

Taking a break doesn’t mean giving up or pretending these battles don’t exist. It means allowing myself to step outside the identity of ‘fighter’ for a moment and remember that I am still a person who deserves rest, laughter, and ordinary peace.

Cancer has a way of shrinking the world into test results, symptoms, and long nights of thinking too much. Heart disease adds its own layer of vigilance and is a constant awareness of fragility. While lost love leaves behind silence where connection once lived. Carrying all three at once makes life feel like an endless uphill climb. A break becomes necessary not because I am weak, but because healing also requires softness. Even the strongest hearts need moments where they are not bracing for the next wave.

Dermot Kennedy: Better Days

Stepping back gives me the chance to reconnect with parts of myself that exist beyond diagnosis or heartbreak. Creativity, friendships, small joys, and quiet hope are all ways I make today feel lighter than yesterday. They allow me to refill the emotional well that these battles draw from every day. Without pauses, resilience turns into burnout; with them, resilience becomes sustainable.

Choosing rest is an act of courage. It’s a reminder that my worth is not measured by how much pain I can endure, but by how gently I can care for myself through it all. This break is not an escape from my reality, it’s a way to return to it with clearer eyes, steadier breath, and a heart that still believes in healing, connection, and love.

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Daily writing prompt
Do you need a break? From what?


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