Happiness | What We Talk About (When We Talk About Cancer)

‘Are you happy?’ is a simple question that is nearly impossible to answer. Happiness is entirely subjective; to some it can be as over-arching as contentment or something as temporary as euphoria. What it means to be happy can change over time, adjusting for circumstance and life.
Is happiness a goal? A state of being that can be worked toward every day? Or, is happiness only fleeting – defined by small moments? Is it a state of mind, to be preserved and protected?

Is there opportunity to find moments of happiness (large and small, defined by each individual) even while living with cancer?

This month we’ll be discussing this happiness, and all these different ways it can be understood. There will be new perspectives posted every week, so please check back often. Please join our conversation, with a comment on any perspective, or by suggesting other words we can discuss in the future, by clicking the “participate” button below.

A cure would make me happy

Angela D | Patient | 11-13-2015

Cancer has taken my happiness away and replaced it with pain and sorrow. I have never been a fighter and now I am in the fight of my life. It makes me sad that all my efforts go toward a war within my body. It makes me sad that I am not who I was, nor will I ever be. It makes me sad that my hair has never grown back. It makes me sad that I am 80 pounds soaking wet. It makes me sad to get treatments that are really just a ‘try and see.’ A cure would make me happy. To be healthy again would make me happy. I took my good health for granted. Nobody should. It is a gift and once it is gone….well, tell me about being happy then.

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Happiness is an inside job!

Wendy K | Patient | 10-28-2015

The question has been asked of you many times. Are you happy? This word is contained in many goals, resolutions, vision states and so much more. Ultimately, what does happiness mean? Continue…

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Happiness is really a decision we make each day

Theresa M | Patient | 10-21-2015

Happiness is really a decision we make each day. Am I going to have a good day and work on finding Continue…

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Happiness regardless of the cancer

Patient | 10-14-2015

Happiness as it relates to cancer is a good report at your doctor’s appointment. It’s no further testing needed. It’s a conclusive ‘all is okay’ answer Continue…

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Happiness is no longer a cheap commodity

Ted G | Patient | 10-06-2015

Cancer takes us to place that we can’t come back from. No matter how fiercely we long for our lives and selves from when we were immortal, Continue…

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Our Mission

This is a place where anyone who counts themselves as a member of the Mass General Cancer Center community --- patient, family member, physician, nurse, researcher, social worker, care giver, administrator --- can come to read, think, and write about the words we all use, but which we don’t always understand in the same way. Often we use words and phrases that are common, that we use every day. Yet, their very familiarity creates the illusion of common understanding where, the fact is, we are frequently using these words in radically different ways, with radically different meanings. In our small way, WWTA is meant to help us work toward a common language and make the conversations we have about cancer more meaningful.

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