The Antidote

A/N: Most of this is meant to be tongue in cheek, humorous, albeit a little sarcastic, but not all of it. Hint, the parts about the music are meant to tickle your funny bone, but I am sincere in my thought that we all need to find our own ways to ward off stress, there is no one way fits all.–anotheronewiththecancer/cancer curmudgeon

Great post today over at myeyesareuphere called “I Can’t Believe I’m Not Freaking Out“, giving advice about mindful meditation methods and other ways to fend off cancer-induced AND Bieber-induced stress. She includes an anecdote about her daughter singing a Justin Bieber song, changing the lyrics to reflect her dislike for the song (or so it sounds, I gather, from the replacement lyrics). Some songs, especially the annoying ones, are like that-they get stuck in the mind. My personal demon of 2012? Carly Rae Jespen’s “Call Me Maybe”. Hate it so much that now I like it, turn it up in the car. Top contender for 2013 is shaping up to be “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, a song with the most annoying hook ever, but a great lyrical ideal: shopping on the cheap at thrift stores!

People, or rather celebrities, say silly things like there are no guilty pleasures, we should never feel guilty about pleasure. Um, no, as a long time punk fan, I will always feel guilty for singing along to Jespen’s earworm.

The post got me thinking about how I combat two of the most evil powers of the universe: Bieber and cancer stress. The answer is easy (for me), simple, but quite long. Here is part of it:

The Ramones
The Clash
The Sex Pistols
Jimi Hendrix
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Iggy Pop
Sonic Youth
Rage Against the Machine
Tupac
Public Enemy
Eminem
Nine Inch Nails
Nirvana

The Ramones

These are only a fraction of my favorite bands, but I only listed these because they are LOUD, which is nice for obliterating the Beibs and cancer worries (of course I love the Beatles, but try pumping your fist and scream-singing “Let It Be”–unsatisfying). Better still, it is nice to turn them up on my car radio as I fly down the road, because I know my fellow travellers would enjoy them too (sorry, my twisted sense of humor at play again).

OK, OK, I’ll serious up now. Myeyesareuphere recommends a few meditation books/cds to help implement practices that could help alleviate the stressors that come with having cancer. I need not enumerate those, I think.

I’ve tried a little Tai Chi and similar practices, a little yoga, a lot of walking (that is a professional hazard, as a dog walker). So far, most have not been so good for me. Any exercise that involves moving the left arm in one way and the right leg another way (or vice versa), I’m kind of screwed because I might be the most uncoordinated person on the planet. What usually happens, as I struggle to keep up with the class or the video clip, is that I wind up more stressed, for not being able to do it!

I will eventually try meditation, maybe. But right now, I kind of like how my mind speeds up and spins, so fast that my mouth can’t keep up when talking, or my fingers can’t type fast enough when writing. Cancer treatment slowed my mind so much, and it took me about a year from the last day of radiation for my brain to “get back up to speed”. I missed the speed of my brain, and the mass of thoughts swirling around in there. I don’t want to clear it, not just yet. I know it can help me relax, develop compassion, patience, etc. But I’m feeling better finally, I have some energy back, and I want to do things, I wanna do them now, not be patient, not relax!

For now, I do the things I can do to relieve my stress–ranting, via blog to get it off my chest, and cranking up my tunes. So what if it’s a little unorthodox in breast cancer world, but I don’t care because it works for me. Good luck as you find your method, or enjoy the one you have already found. Feel free to share it…even here on this post if you want.

And remember, it does not have to be the yoga or meditation variety, although that is perfectly OK too! Hey, normal or outrageous, as long as it gets the job done.

To comply with the follow your own bliss aspect of this post, have a picture of rock icon Iggy Pop