7 Tips for Handling Your Emotions When You Have Lung Cancer

By Your Health Magazine

A diagnosis of lung cancer can unleash an emotional storm. Managing these emotions is necessary for maintaining mental and physical health during treatment and beyond. These 7 tips will help you navigate the emotional ride of living with lung cancer.

Learn About Your Condition

Phobias of the unknown can be alleviated by information. Learn about your type of Lung Cancer, its stage, and possible treatments from trusted sources. This clarity can minimize fear and make you master of your domain. Avoid unsubstantiated web forums that can exacerbate anxiety.

Focus on actionable information, such as managing side effects or improving quality of life. Being informed empowers you to make value-consistent decisions, diminishing emotional stress. Balance studying with breaks to not get overwhelmed and process the information at your own pace.

Acknowledge Your Feelings

Denying your emotions after a lung cancer diagnosis can lead to even more stress. Instead, practice fully feeling and experiencing these emotions, no matter how unique, scary, or intense the feelings may be.

Journaling can be your friend here; write down everything you feel without judgment. For example: “I am terrified about my next scan”. This simple act can help you process fear. Discussing it with a counselor or friend is also a validating experience. Accepting that emotions and feelings come and go and are just part of the journey, then you can continue to heal.

Once you claim and take ownership of your feelings, you can move away from them, remove some of their power, and have space to heal and recover. If you’re getting mired in this stage of your process, you will probably need help from an expert counselor to move beyond it.

You must start somewhere, and defining and acknowledging that your feelings are real is the start of being able to manage them well enough to be able to help you build resilience for the journey forward.

Create a Support System

Being around people who support you can lessen the emotional toll of lung cancer. Close friends, family members, or support groups create a space for you to express your fears and your hopes. Seek lung cancer support groups, in person and/or online, where you can go to share your challenges with people who get it.

Most organizations offer online support groups. Please do not be shy about telling others what you need from them. Do you require someone to chat with? A healthy support group decreases loneliness and instills hope. When you are constantly around others, you are reminded you are not alone, giving you the emotional strength to move through your treatment and uncertainty.

Set Realistic Goals

Lung cancer can disturb your feeling of control, but establishing small, realizable goals can regain it. Prioritize daily or weekly goals. These goals have to be consistent with your energy level and treatment plan.

For instance, if fatigue is a factor, aim to rest on purpose instead of straining. Put your goals on paper to monitor progress, which can improve your mood and feelings of success. Prevent overly optimistic plans that will make you frustrated.

Acknowledge small successes. Goal-setting redirects your attention from what you can’t do to what you can, decreasing helpless feelings. Modify goals as necessary, remaining adaptable to your body’s fluctuations. This practice cultivates purpose and resilience, allowing you to navigate emotional ups and downs.

Reduce Stress Triggers

Recognizing and reducing triggers of stress, which enhance emotional distress, is extremely important. For example, if you find that listening to health scare news bulletins increases your anxiety, then reduce it. Suppose you are engaging in conversations that anger you, like receiving unwelcome advice as to how to “cure” cancer.

In that case, having courteous boundaries with others is okay: “I do not particularly feel like talking about treatments right now”. Create a calming living space with less light or relaxing music at home.

Whenever possible, rely on delegation to others to preserve your energy. It is a critical practice to decline things that are not necessary without guilt. By eliminating additional demands or contributing factors, you will have room to process your feelings calmly. It’s also a good idea to check in regularly to determine if the stress triggers in your life change after focusing on your health and adjusting to your environment and the people you surround yourself with when you are distressed.

Seek Professional Help

If you’re feeling extra sad or anxious and can’t manage it anymore, you can get a professional to work with you to manage what comes up. Therapists specializing in oncology issues can provide you with skills to cope.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you change a negative feeling – for example, “I’m a burden” to a realistic and sane feeling. Psychiatrists can think with you about whether medication would help you manage severe anxiety or depression. And don’t hide the truth about your symptoms: constant feelings of hopelessness and sleeping problems should not go untreated.

Receiving therapy when you are dealing with mental health issues that interfere with your functioning is not a sign of weakness. It is a proactive means of improving your emotional health. Therapy and/or psychiatric visits could be in sync with your schedule.

Not all mental health services have to be weekly; it is reasonable to “check in” monthly or as often as you need support as you manage the emotional toll of cancer treatment. If you are worried about affording treatment, ask if a sliding scale fee or hospital programs can support obtaining your treatment. Working with a professional will help you manage your emotions more strongly and clearly.

Find Meaning by Connections

Being connected to what is essential to you can provide an emotional anchor. Spend quality time with the people you care for. Small connections can reinforce your meaning. Consider prayer or meditation for that value if spirituality is important to you. Meaning allows you to connect and reminds you about who you are aside from cancer.

When cancer patients find purpose, it supports emotional resilience during treatment. Schedule at least one meaningful connection every week and balance it with rest. As you nurture what is meaningful, you will have less despair and feel hope and strength to navigate through uncertainties.

Endnote

It can be an emotional experience to have lung cancer. It is understandable to recognize the emotional dimensions formed by lung cancer experiences, and the good news is that you can deal with the experience. Education, creative expression, realistic goal setting, emotional stress reduction, finding meaning, and practicing self-compassion also support you in coping. The list of tools does not alleviate the challenges; instead, it prepares you to face them with increased fortitude. Utilize the tools as they feel most useful to you. Try out each tool, adapt them to your needs, and remember that every action you take is brave.