Dr Julie Smith

👉 Posting this feels incredibly vulnerable as I tend not to share many personal things online. But I also know that 1 in 2 people will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime and, of those, 1 in 5 will delay for more than three months before contacting a doctor about symptoms. I nearly became one of those people. Like most others with a busy family and work life, I was tempted to wait until I had more time and headspace before seeing a doctor. I was six weeks away from finishing my new book and I didn't know if I had the capacity to deal with both. Since the diagnosis, I am so grateful that I didn’t delay for long. Speed is our secret weapon when it comes to cancer. The sooner we know it’s there, the better our chances of a good outcome. So, for anyone out there who has noticed something and not yet called their doctor, this is your sign to make it happen.

I hope this explains my lack of dm replies and videos being posted over the last few months. Its been a rollercoaster. I’m going to share some of my journey on stories for anyone who wants updates. I am incredibly lucky that this has been caught so early. Of course, nothing is certain just yet but a couple of surgeries and I should be out the other side. That is another reason I am stepping outside of my comfort zone to talk about this. Many people go through this and go on to live full, active and healthy lives. So discovering possible symptoms doesn’t have to be a disaster. It can be an opportunity to get ahead in the fight and beat cancer before it has a chance to take over.

I absolutely have my head in the game for the treatment plan ahead, ready to get going next week. I also have a giant stack of video ideas just waiting to be made, so I can’t wait to get back up and running ❤️

If you think it could help someone feel free to share this message ❤️

👉 Can you relate? Do you have memories that you try your best to push down, but they keep coming up for you when you don’t want them to. When those memories are from traumatic events, that can cause an overwhelming level of distress that is hard to bring back down. This video is a quick summary of a metaphor that I have often used to help describe how working through painful memories in trauma therapy can help.

🍷Did you notice it change? 👉Here are some top tips for dealing with painful emotion

• Get to know what your blocking behaviours are. These are the things we do, often without even thinking about it, to numb ourselves. For example, sometimes the first sign of emotional pain is that you are hinting through the fridge for something sweet, or you put off everything else to binge watch tv. Once we build our awareness of how we numb, we can more easily spot when we are struggling.
• It seems counterintuitive to think about welcoming all emotions because our instinct is to push them away. But when we turn toward emotion with curiosity, we no longer need to waste energy fighting it.
• Turning towards it means allowing it to be here. To feel the sensations it brings. And to soothe ourselves as it passes.
• Self-soothing can be anything that helps you to feel safe and comforted in the moment, without costing you dearly in the long term.
• Finding words to describe how you feel no writing it down is a helpful way to get some distance from it and see emotions for what they are; an experience washing over you that is temporary.