Kirstie Blanchette

...and the emotions that come up from this. I have been doing a lot of reading lately around the topic of acceptance and it has really struck a chord with me. Acceptance can feel like such a simple word, but it’s one of the hardest parts of life after breast cancer. For the first couple of years after finishing treatment, I remember feeling desperate to try to fit back into my old life, to ‘move on,’ but I wasn’t really able to. It’s not that I was in denial about what had happened to me, I...

Life after breast cancer can feel like walking into a room where everything looks familiar, but nothing is quite the same. On the surface, you’re still you; the same name, the same smile, the same relationships, yet deep down, there’s a sense that something fundamental has shifted. And that’s because it has. Cancer changes you. Not always in ways you’d choose, and not always in ways that are easy to explain to other people, but in ways that are very real.

If you’re feeling exhausted — in body, mind, or spirit — you’re not alone. Rest is something we all need, but very few of us are taught how to actually do it. And after breast cancer, when you’ve been through months or even years of stress, treatment, and physical change, rest becomes more than just important. It becomes essential. And yet for so many women, resting feels almost impossible.