One More Day: Living with Gratitude After Cancer

By Lisa Dawley, Ph.D.

I woke up different.

Two weeks after my cancer treatment ended—after three months of radiation burns, severe chemo reactions, and days I didn’t know if I’d make it—I opened my eyes and felt something shift.

A quiet realization came over me: I made it.

And I cried. Not because the pain was over, but because I had been given something rare—a second chance.

Since that morning, everything changed.

I began waking up each day with the same silent prayer: This is one more day I get to live.

Not a day to fill. Not a day to perform. Not a day to prove myself.

A gift. A breath. A space to choose peace...within myself, with others, and with the earth.

I became a different kind of being.

The woman who went into treatment was strong, determined, always doing. The woman who came out is slower, deeper, and more grateful than ever.

That shift wasn’t about defeat. It was a sacred reorientation.

Now I ask myself:

What would make this day beautiful, nourishing, or true?

Sometimes that means clearing a corner of clutter. Sometimes it means sitting in my garden and letting the sun kiss my face. Sometimes it means doing absolutely nothing...and letting that be holy.

Gratitude sits at the center now.

Not as a practice, but as a way of being.

The old world says, “Keep up.” But the deeper voice, the one I met in the fire, says:

You’re already enough. This moment is sacred. There is nothing to prove.

How do you want to spend your one more day?

You don’t have to wait for crisis to choose peace. You can start now. Right here. With this breath.

What would happen if you let yourself slow down? If you stopped keeping up, and started coming home?

💬 Ask AI

“How can I live this one day in a way that nourishes my body, honors my spirit, and feels true to who I’ve become?”

Copy and paste this prompt into your favorite AI tool, like ChatGPT, and listen closely to what reflects back. Let it be a mirror for your moment.