Goood evening 👋
What’s something unexpected that’s massively shaped your life?
Recently, I shared a post all about the 12th anniversary of my Peutz-Jeghers story. This gave me an idea. An idea to try something new – something that I haven’t spoken about on here for a long while.
What is that exactly? Well, that’s what we’ll be finding out today.
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
I have a six-inch scar going down my stomach, in the shape of a thermometer. It’s the reason I am alive today.
It’s something that I don’t talk about much; however, a conversation that I had with a friend taught me I should probably change that. So, here I am practising what I preach 💃
Back in October 2014, I had a life-saving operation, where I very luckily pulled through and can be with you all here today. When I initially had the bandage removed and saw this scar down my stomach, I’ll be honest, it completely floored me.
I thought I’d been ruined – that something had been taken or done to me that I’d never be able to take back or fix. It sounds dramatic, but when things like this happen, and they’re out of your control, it can take a little while to process.
It was my mam who had the words to help me snap out of my inner spiral. She said:
“JC, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about your scar. Without it, you wouldn’t be here. It’s a token of how you pulled through that day”. 12 years later, the message is as poignant as ever. It’s all about the conversation, and the way in which you speak to yourself.
I’m incredibly nervous about posts like this, but they are why I started posting in the first place. To remind people that they’re not alone.
Looking back on that younger version of Sweeney – the boy who used to swim loads, but then was so nervous to be seen with his top off- it’s certainly an interesting experience. Fast forward to now, and while I still get a tad nervous about things from time to time, my scar is not one of them anymore. Not if I can help it anyway.
If this can reach somebody who’s feeling the same as a younger JC did and reassure them, then I am a very happy man 💙
That’s the whole purpose of blogs like this: to test things out, see how I find writing them, how you find reading them, and how we all find the process and journey.
So, here’s to whatever is coming next, and remembering that while we’re all different, we can come together to make something magic.
I want to close off today by inviting you to embrace what makes you, you. Identify these things. Celebrate them. Live them. And with that, it’s time to bring this blog to a close for the time being.
The question I want to leave you with today is the one I opened up this blog with: What’s something unexpected that’s massively shaped your life?
I’d love to hear what you think 😊
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day!
JC
