Sometimes I have to climb hills for the mental challenge

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Facing cancer tests both the mind and the body. Hill climbing—literal and metaphorical—captures that dual challenge perfectly.

When I was diagnosed with Grade 2 metastatic Neuroendocrine Cancer in 2010, it came as a shock. I didn’t feel unwell enough to imagine I had stage IV disease. At first, I simply carried on working, assuming it was “something and nothing” and that normality would soon return. Over time, I learned that optimism and realism don’t always align, and I eventually settled somewhere between the two, adjusting my route as I went. My journey rose and fell in ways that felt very much like climbing and descending hills, and with advanced cancer, those metaphorical climbs can demand just as much motivation as the real ones.

I walk a lot, and climbing hills certainly doesn’t get easier with age—but the drive to keep going is still there. The parallels between the physical and the emotional are hard to ignore, which is why I once wrote a blog called “Sometimes you gotta climb that hill.” It resonated enough to be featured by three cancer advocacy organisations, suggesting the metaphor struck a chord. They likely recognised that the challenge isn’t only physical; the mental climb is just as real. Perhaps that’s why the imagery of hill climbing felt so fitting.

The physical challenge

Personally, I like a physical challenge that I believe is within my capability or is on the edge of it.  I found for me that climbing up a hill generated a euphoric feeling of ‘winning’ which I later worded in a series of posts entitled “Piss off cancer ……..etc”.   If you want to follow my walks in general, you should follow my Facebook account “Ronny Allan” – click here to visit.

The piss off cancer challenge

Cancer can’t hear that of course but if it makes you feel better, why not!  This can really be applied to many situations, things that people thought they would never do again after their diagnosis, suddenly when things settle, they find these things are possible.  I love seeing this happen in my group.  People returning to past pursuits and/or taking up new ones. People going to on holiday when they thought it was no longer possible, people deciding to go to nursing school, people generally stocking up their bucket list.  Stop talking about it, get on and do it!

I even introduced it to my birthdays and any of my special ‘cancerversaries’.  It’s great fun.

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