How not to be defined by one part of your life

What would your own personal Eras Tour look like?

Rocking my pink ribbon this month

Overwhelm can be complicated. It’s possible to find something galvanising, rewarding and very worthwhile, while also finding it exhausting, depleting and perhaps not the best thing for One’s Mental Health.

This is how I sometimes feel around Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  

I understand this might sound counterintuitive coming from me. If I didn’t love talking and writing about breast cancer, then why would I keep doing so?

Well look, I’m a journalist who was handed a breast cancer diagnosis in the same week that I left my job as deputy editor of Grazia to go freelance. Just as I was available to write freelance commissions, all anyone wanted me to write about was cancer.

And at first I didn’t mind. I loved writing the column that Jonathan and I did together in the Sunday Times Style throughout my treatment. It was cathartic, and helped me articulate how I was feeling. Also, it led to my book, Reconstruction: How to Rebuild Your Body, Mind & Life After a B…