By Stephen Symington
So, remember that time I said I didn’t have cancer? Funny story about that… well, it’s not so much funny as it is I actually DO have cancer.
It seems the initial test was incorrect and my doctors pronounced prematurely that I needn’t worry. So, in light of this news, Justine and I won’t be joining the legions of unwashed young people flocking to logging communities across Canada in the next few days. Instead I’m booked to move back Vancouver to be shot with radiation and pumped full of poisonous chemicals. This, of course, also means our travel plans through California and Australia are off.
But that doesn’t mean the lesson of mental preparation doesn’t still apply. Because I’m prepared for the worst cancer can give me, likely I’ll find my ‘cancer experience’ somewhat subdued compared to what my conjured it up to be be. Hopefully.
Dealing with such disappointment is key to being a successful treeplanter. So many times the planter will awake in the morning feeling his/her absolute best, and ready to plant an all-time high score. Only to find that due to a misreading of the map, his/her crew only reaches the block at 2:00 PM after driving around bumpy logging roads all day long. Or they find that they’ve run out of trees. Or that today they’ll be stuck in a mosquito infested gully for an inadequate tree price. Or that, after finishing his/her difficult piece, and being ready to head back to camp to eat dinner, they are told to head over to some other piece to help close up the block until 8:00 PM. All these things are practically daily occurrences, and the only way the planter can remain successful in the midst of them is to be prepared to banish all stress that comes from such disappointments.
My finding out I won’t be going travelling/planting and instead must be treated for cancer was an extreme disappointment, but I was already mentally prepared for it in the course of my planting training. Back in March, I was told I would have an opportunity to grade for my Black belt in Karate, something I never got around to doing before leaving for university. That entire month, I increased the intensity of my training and pushed myself even harder than I had ever before. By the day of the test I was easily in the best shape of my life, and was more than ready for whatever they threw at me. Only, just before the seminar, at the end of which the test was to be held, began, I was told that the senior instructors had decided suddenly that I wasn’t eligible to grade as I had been away from the organization for too long. As crushing a disappointment as it was, I didn’t have long to dwell on it before this much more serious business began.
But the message remained. And although we won’t be planting or travelling this year like we planned, it has prepared us for adversity. And I would advise those who are heading into the bush this season, to keep this in mind, and try not to let the Gong-show that is treeplanting get you too riled up.
justine yearwood 