We’ve all had challenges to overcome in our lives. Some more difficult to overcome than others. My skill is being able to be resilient overcoming my challenges. Resilience is important because without it, you will never grow and excel as a person.

The biggest challenge I’ve had to overcome yet is my grandpa’s cancer. It started with my mom telling me. I can remember, I had just gotten home from dance practice to find my mom slumped down at the kitchen counter, distraught. She had looked at me and said, “I have something to tell you.” Initially, I prepared myself for good news. Maybe we were going out to dinner, or she had a funny story from work to share. The news I got was much, much worse. “Sadie, Grandpa has lung cancer,” my mom said.

At first, I was in a state of shock. I didn’t even believe her. “For how long?” I asked. A month. He had cancer for a month already and she didn’t tell me sooner. Suddenly, a wave of anger came over me. Why hadn’t she told me earlier? I could’ve helped from the start! I was always the last to know things! In tears, I stormed up my worn stairs all the way to my room. Looking back, I wish I hadn’t acted the way I did. My mom was going through the same thing as me.

The next few months were tough. Going to chemotherapy with him and my mom was something I thought I’d never have to do. I remember walking into the humongous, extremely intimidating, white cement building with my grandpa, terrified. He and my grandma were so used to the whole ordeal of where to park and which door to enter, where to sign in, where to sit. It made me sad that the appointments were like second nature to them. When we arrived at the front desk, all the nurses greeted my grandparents by name. Even in the most dire circumstances, they were able to make friends wherever they went. My grandparents were such amazing people. I couldn’t understand why one of them deserved cancer. 

As time went on, my family grew closer and closer, all working towards one goal, getting my grandpa better. Cousins I had barely spoken to I was now seeing every weekend. My mom rekindled her relationship with her siblings over working out who would take work off to drive him to treatments. At first, I didn’t even want to talk about the whole situation. Then, I researched cancer a bit and got a better understanding of what he was going through with treatments and side effects. I also was able to get past my fear of the illness and help my family to do that too. Another thing I learned was to not overreact about little things, since I had found out the hard way that there are much worse things that could happen. Once we got rid of the stigma around cancer, we were better prepared to help my grandpa. It is still difficult sometimes, but my family and I were resilient towards the challenge, and we are overcoming it, step by step.

Resilience is one of the most important life skills to have. It helps you get through hard times and challenges. Having that skill has definitely helped me along throughout the years. Has there been a time in your life where you’ve had to be resilient?

-Sadie Blattstein