Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that affects the membrane that lines most of the body’s internal organs. According to the CDC, more than 2,400 Americans develop this, which is caused by exposure to asbestos or asbestos-containing products, every year.
According to medical experts, mesothelioma survival rates are very low: most of the people who are diagnosed with this cancer die within a year or two of diagnosis, and only about 7% of people who get this cancer live for five years or longer.
This low life expectancy can cause turmoil in the emotions of some mesothelioma patients. One of such people is Kwame Agyemang. “I get scared when I think about all those figures and the low life expectancy for mesothelioma patients. I want to know how I can deal with that fear,” Kwame asks, with a look of concern on his face.
Here are a few things you can do to handle that kind of fear, if you find yourself in this same situation.
1. Expose Yourself To The Statistics Often
This may sound counter-intuitive, but several studies have shown that when one faces his fears, he or she loses the fear of the trigger that may be inducing this emotion.
So, every day, choose to read about those rates for 2 minutes, or listen to an audio version the stats. When reading them or listening to them, focus on the statistics 100% and prevent your mind from wandering. When you notice that your fear is growing and becoming unmanageable, stop reading the statistics.
When you get used to viewing or listening to those stats, increase the amount of time you spend acknowledging those rates to 5minutes a day. And when you feel comfortable exposing yourself to the figures for that amount of time, increase the amount of time you expose yourself to the rates to 10 minutes, 15 minutes and so on.
2. Think About Positive Images
When one fearful thought after another start coming into your mind, go to your bedroom, lie down on your bed, take in deep breaths and exhale slowly through your nostrils for about 5 minutes, and then close your eyes.
Then, imagine that you are walking hand-in-hand on a beach on one summer afternoon, having an engaging conversation with your spouse. This will help to induce positive feelings in you. Feeling positive will make it easier for you to think positively.
3. Do Something You Love
Instead of sitting down mulling over the rates, and instead of turning one fearful thought after the other over in your head from morning till night, engage in something interesting that can engage your whole attention. This will serve as a useful distraction and you will think less and less about the frightening rates.
So, if you love reading comics, immerse yourself in reading motivational comics whose themes center around protagonists who face their fears and overcome them. Keep reading until you find it easier to think encouraging thoughts.
Or, if you love inspiring younger people, find one or two teenagers and share your experiences in life with them and advise them about how to avoid some of the mistakes you made when you were growing up and you will feel happy and that will help you to forget about your fears.
4. Do The “Reality Exercise” Often
This exercise will help you to get out of your head and to think more realistically and, consequently, you will no longer feel scared that you will live for only a short time.
How do you do this exercise?
• Sit down at a table with a journal and a pen.
• Draw a line from the top to the bottom of one of the pages so that you will create two columns.
• Label the column on the left “What I Fear” and label the column on the right “Can This Really Happen?”
• In the left column, write down all the things you fear about those rates. For example, if you live in California (where most mesothelioma deaths occur), you may write, “I am afraid. I live in a state with the highest number of recorded deaths as a result of mesothelioma. That scares me.”
• Then, in the right column, write down the opposite of what you wrote in the left column or the positive side of what you wrote in the other column. For example, beside the example above, you may write, “Well, there are some people in California who have mesothelioma, but who are still alive, right?”
Doing this exercise will help you to see the flaws in your thinking by helping you to see that your perspective is not the only way things may end up. Consequently, it will be easier for you to challenge negative thoughts so that you can focus on reality instead of getting stuck in your head and looking at the worse- case scenario.
Conclusion
If you get scared whenever you see, or hear of, mesothelioma survival rates, then expose yourself to the statistics often, conjure up pleasing images often, engage in things that will make you feel happy, and do the reality exercise and you will feel better.
Isaac started his writing career as a crime fiction eBook author. He has published about 75 mystery and thriller eBooks on Amazon in English and several other languages. In addition, Isaac has also self-published about 7 non-fiction eBooks.
Additionally, Isaac has written over 80 articles on relationships and marriage at Hubpages, and over 50 articles on topics ranging from relationships, health, and parenting to sports, self-improvement, and making money online, at Wordpress.com and Blogger.com.
Isaac is a simple, down-to-Earth guy. He has a great sense of humor and he is very friendly. He loves watching soccer and reading his Bible and crime fiction stories. Furthermore, he enjoys sharing knowledge with people and also exchanging ideas with others, and learning new things about life and other people.
Isaac’s favorite authors are Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Agatha Christie, Enid Blyton, and Alfred Hitchcock.