My aunt Brenda was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few years ago, and she reacted exactly how you'd expect: denial, panic, fear -- all the natural emotions that humans go through when progressing through grief. Now, I don't want to bring you down, so before we go any further, here's Lexy and Stephany singing "This Feels Like Love."

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

Better? If not, watch it again. All of it. For the rest of you, let's skip ahead to when Brenda accepted her situation and made peace with it. Once that happened, she told me, "All of this is temporary. It sucks that I have cancer, but the problem is never the situation -- it's how we handle it." That really hit home for me because I never looked at it that way before. We are creatures who excel at adaptation, even when things are their most dire. Especially when they're the most dire. But the initial burst of panic and fear inhibits that perseverance ... and that is where the problem seems the worst.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

When Brenda said that it's only temporary, she didn't mean that her cancer was going to suddenly decide to stop being a douche and leave with an apology. She meant that the chaos and negative emotions don't last very long. That once you're able to clear your heart and your head, these things become so much easier to deal with.