If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that life is awesome. It’s full of things like paper monsters, flaming tennis balls, epic toboggan races and surprise birthday parties that make you grateful to still be here.

And if I’ve learned anything else, it’s that life is awful. 

It’s full of stinging nettles and wolves lurking in the shadows. Mushy cauliflower and Bill Clinton’s security detail. Frying pans to the kneecap and BB gun pellets in the eye. And yes, it’s also full of things like cancer. 

But those tough times can also be opportunities for learning and growth. Indeed, I’ve learned more from adversity and tripping over my two feet than I ever have from a textbook. 

When I found out I had cancer and a 50/50 shot at surviving, I fell to pieces. I felt utterly outmatched and unprepared for the journey Dr. Merker said lay ahead of me.

But what I didn’t realize at the time was that a lifetime of simply blunderful experiences had equipped me with a slew of tools to help me overcome this obstacle.

Patience. Teamwork. Adaptability. Self-care. Putting in the extra effort. Like a collector of misadventure merit badges, I had acquired many important skills from life’s awesome and absurd moments — from peeing my pants in kindergarten to duct-taping a duffel bag to my brother’s back to getting launched from a shopping cart as it crashed into a fire hydrant. 

Thanks in no small part to those lessons, I am now a hundred per cent cancer-free. And although my journey with leukemia was a gruelling one, it taught me a lot about what it takes to get through life’s trials and tribulations.

I learned that life isn’t about trying to avoid the monsters and mayhem lurking around every corner. Because no matter who you are, there will be times when you’re faced with challenges you have no choice but to tackle head on.

No, the key is equipping yourself with the right tools, honing the right skills and surrounding yourself with the right team — so that you’re as prepared as you can be when those inevitable obstacles do try to get in your way.

Because in the end, it’s not the size of the problem that matters. It’s how we face it and who we face it with that makes all the difference in the world.

The End 🙂