The Fear Factor

I am writing a chapter for my book, After the Diagnosis, about helping newly-diagnosed patients to confront the fear factor.  And this week, I met with clients who were dealing with their own fears.  One is newly diagnosed with HIV, while another is dealing with cancer treatment.  Both progressed quickly from the initial news of their diagnosis to active treatment.  Talking with these clients really brought home to me how scary it is to suddenly learn that your life will never be the same in many ways, but in what ways?  One of the scariest things about a diagnosis is the uncertainty — you know you have a lot ahead of you but you aren’t exactly sure what.  And what you do have ahead is change.  So, uncertainty and change — humans aren’t exactly hardwired to deal with either very well.  But learning to sit with uncertainty and change, to accept this as inevitable and not fight it, and to let yourself feel the fear, is the beginning of coping.  Acceptance.  And then looking at what you can do.  I guess this is having a Zen attitude.