Hope: Detailed Information

This information is meant to be a general introduction to this topic. The purpose is to provide a starting point for you to become more informed about important matters that may be affecting your life as a survivor and to provide ideas about steps you can take to learn more. This information is not intended nor should it be interpreted as providing professional medical, legal and financial advice. You should consult a trained professional for more information. Please read the Suggestions and Additional Resources documents for questions to ask and for more resources.

Hope is the belief that a positive outcome lies ahead. This can be difficult to hold onto in the face of cancer. Hope is a way of thinking, feeling and acting that may help you find ways to live with difficult situations. Many cancer survivors have faced difficult situations in the past and may continue to face challenges during post-treatment survivorship. This can make it tough to be hopeful. Even if some things about your future seem discouraging, you can choose how you will face these challenges. Knowing why hope is important and how to create a sense of hope in your life can help you approach survivorship with strength and confidence.

You might find it easy to feel hopeful. You might never give hope much thought. Or you may think hope is important but aren’t sure how to create hope in your life after cancer. Hoping is very personal and is different for every person. Some people think hope and denial are the same thing, that to be hopeful, you have to pretend things are going well when they really aren’t. Experts who have studied hope claim that while hope may help ease you of overwhelming doubts and fears, it is not denial. Hope is realistic. It is being honest with yourself about your situation in life while still looking forward to possible positive outcomes in your future. Survivors who are struggling with life after cancer may find that hope helps them remain positive during their survivorship.

What are different ways that survivors hope?

People hope for different things at different times in their lives. When you were first diagnosed with cancer, you probably hoped that your treatment would be successful and that your cancer would go into remission. You may have relied on hope to get you through the difficult days of treatment and the changes that came to your life.

Now that treatment is over, you have a new set of concerns about what life will be like after cancer and how you will deal with post-treatment changes. You can decide what role hope will play in helping you manage these changes and the uncertainty that can come with them. Hope can come to you in many ways.

You may find hope by talking with other people. You can work with your health care team to understand and make health care choices that will help you feel confident and hopeful about your future. Your family, friends, co-workers and others you know can also support you as you decide how to bring hope to your situation. Sharing your story with other survivors and learning about the challenges and joys they experience in their survivorship can be an important source of hope.

You may find hope by looking forward to planned events, like a child’s graduation from high school or a gathering with friends. You may have work projects or hobbies that capture your attention and help you look to the future when they will be completed.

You may find hope through your spirituality or religion. Survivors using a spiritual or religious basis for hope may believe that a higher power is helping them through the ups and downs of their survivorship. You may find great help and comfort in talking with a spiritual leader or your clergy or by attending spiritual support groups.

You may use a more scientific or factual basis for hope. You may spend a lot of time looking for information about post-treatment cancer topics, getting additional opinions and scanning the Web for information.

Survivors usually combine many of these approaches to find hope. There is no right or wrong way to hope.

Does hope change over time?

Hope is flexible, and hope changes as your life changes. Only you will know the best way for you to hope. Sometimes others may tell you that your situation is hopeless. That can be difficult to hear and can make it more difficult for you to manage your current situation. At the same time, when others are telling you to be more honest about your situation, you might want to take some time to think about what is happening in your life. If you realize that something you hoped for will definitely not happen, you might need to re-examine and refocus on other, more realistic hopes. You can’t always change the outcome of a situation, but you can decide what part hope will play in helping you deal with that situation.

Hope may not be easy to find. The changes that come with cancer can sometimes be overwhelming and cause a great deal of uncertainty. Hope can help you move forward despite bad news and disappointments. Even if the challenges that you must deal with are large ones, hope can help you find the strength and courage to face them.

What are some suggestions for survivors who want to create more hope in their lives?

Below is a brief list. For more information, see Suggestions.

• Share your hopes with other people
• Write down your thoughts and feelings about hope in a journal
• Talk to other survivors about finding hope
• Talk to a therapist if trying to find hope causes depression, anxiety or overwhelms you in any way

This document was produced in collaboration with:
Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers

Hope: Suggestions

Share your hopes with other people:

Having a conversation about hope with your loved ones and your health care team can be difficult. Yet, if they don't know what your hopes are, they may not be able to provide the type of support you need during difficult times. You may need to be direct and tell others what you find hopeful and helpful. You also can tell them what makes you feel hopeless so that they can help you with your feelings. Let others know that you are trying to stay positive and that you want to talk about things that help you feel hopeful.

Write down your thoughts and feelings about hope in a journal:

Keeping a diary or journal may help you understand the role hope plays in your life. You might find it helpful to keep a hope journal where you record helpful sayings, note your progress and list what you are hoping for or what gave you hope on a prticular day. You may also find it helpful to express your hope through other forms of creativity, such as drawings or scrapbooking. Using the cards, words of encouragement and support that you recieved from others as well as your own inspirations by putting them into a collage can express your hope.

You are free to write about anything you like, including:

• Feelings
• Relationships
• Hopes and fears
• Your life after treatment
• What it means to you to be a cancer survivor
• Your plans for the present and the future

You may find the process of journaling helps you recognize areas in your life that you can feel good about and areas that you want to change.

Find a quiet, comfortable spot to do your writing. Spend as much time writing as you want. You can write several pages, a couple of lines or even just one word to express how you feel or what you are thinking.

Talk to other survivors about finding hope:

You might ask a member of your health care team if they know a long-term survivor with a similar diagnosis who would speak with you. It's sometimes helpful to meet others who have been where you are and have been able to live fully despite a cancer diagnosis.

Support groups provide a safe environment to share experiences with other survivors, learn new ways to handle difficult situations and talk about emotions. You will see different styles of coping with stress and adjusting to life as a cancer survivor. If you are uncomfortable talking about certain subjects with your family or friends, a support group offers you a place to talk freely about what is important to you.

Ways to find out more about support groups in your area:

• Ask a member of your health care team for suggestions. Some cancer programs offer support groups for cancer survivors and their family members right in the clinic or hospital.
• Call a nearby cancer center or university hospital and ask about support groups.
• Call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345) and request a list of support groups and cancer centers in your area.
• Visit LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare at www.livestrong.org/survivorcare, or call 1-866-235-7205 for information on support groups.

Talk to a therapist if trying to find hope causes depression, anxiety or overwhelms you in any way:

Ask a member of your health care team for a referral to a therapist who works with other cancer survivors. Most cancer centers employ oncology social workers who are specially trained to work with cancer survivors and their families. Even if you are not a patient at a cancer center, the oncology social worker may meet with you or refer you to someone else in the community.

It is important to interview the therapist to find out if he or she is the right professional for you. Speak honestly with the therapist and let him or her know your reasons for wanting to work with a therapist.

Examples of questions to ask the therapist:

• What type of education background do you have?
• What license do you have?
• What is your experience working with people with cancer?
• What do you understand about the emotional response to this illness?
• Do you take my insurance?
• Do you work with people who are anxious? Depressed?
• Do you know community resources for people with cancer?

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