How To Rebuild Your Confidence After Mastectomy
If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer, getting a mastectomy can be one of the most difficult decisions you can make in your life. Primarily, mastectomy refers to a surgical procedure for removing all the breast tissue from the breast to prevent or treat breast cancer.
Despite the benefits this surgery offers, it may leave you with a feeling that you’ve lost an important part of your femininity in the middle of your battle against cancer. Sometimes, it can diminish your level of confidence.
When this happens, below are some ways for helping you rebuild your confidence after a mastectomy procedure:
1. Find The Right Mastectomy Apparel
One of the best ways of getting back to your confident self is to look for the best mastectomy clothes that’ll suit your needs. These can include a wide variety of apparels, including vests, swimsuits, pajamas, sports apparel, and many more.
But, aside from these clothing, it’s also essential to look for bras that you can feel comfortable wearing. For example, products like the Amoena mastectomy bras and other related brands can be an ideal choice if you want to feel confident and feminine again with your apparel choices.
2. Listen To Your Emotions
Gaining back your confidence after a mastectomy procedure can start within yourself. Sometimes, you opt to suppress your feelings about what was lost. However, you should understand that there’s no perfect way of feeling about yourself and your body after the operation. All you need to do is give yourself enough time to go through this process and accept what you’re feeling regardless if it’s positive or negative.
By listening to your emotions and feelings, you may be able to heal faster and move forward with your life. The more you acknowledge what you’re feeling after the mastectomy, the more you feel loved and supported, which in turn, can slowly get your confidence back.
3. Build Your Support Network
Typically, breast cancer has been one of the common women’s health issues to watch out for due to its impact to one’s health and overall well-being. As such, patients who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and have undergone mastectomy are encouraged to seek support from other people who have had similar experiences and those close to them.
Hence, if you’re one of these patients who may have lost the confidence after the surgery, building and connecting with your support network can be an excellent idea.
When you have your support network by your side, you’ll have the opportunity to be completely honest about how you feel without suppressing your true feelings and pretending to be happy at all times. More often than not, the connections you have with your support network can help you handle the frustrations you’re feeling with others who don’t understand what you go through. Your support group can empathize with your feelings and thoughts and, in turn, help regain your confidence in no time.
4. Expose Yourself To Nature
Sometimes getting a mastectomy procedure can be depressing and stressful. That’s probably because one’s breasts have been a symbol of one’s femininity for a long time. The loss can make them less confident about themselves. When this happens, embracing nature can be a perfect idea.
By exposing yourself to nature, even at least 20 minutes, you can improve your overall energy levels and mood which can also have a positive effect on your confidence level. Thus, if you’re living in your house during your recovery, you can go green by adding houseplants or cultivating a garden in your backyard.
5. Take Time And Try Something You’ve Always Loved
Your recovery after undergoing mastectomy can be tiring. You may also experience some feelings of grief and exhaustion after the removal of a part of you. Also, you may feel bad about being different after the operation, thereby making you less confident about yourself.
When this happens, it can be a good idea to take some time and try something you’ve always loved. Reflect on what happened, but don’t dwell for too long. to protect your mental health in the long run. What you should do is go on a vacation with family and do the things you love.
For example, you might want to go on a picnic date with your loved ones, have a dinner date with friends, and try something creative and adventurous such as going for a hike with your friends. Whatever it is that gives you fun and excitement, do it--so you can find joy again in things you want to do. The happier you become, the more you can rebuild your confidence and move forward.
The Bottom Line
Indeed, dealing with breast cancer and a mastectomy as a treatment can be overwhelming. You may have no idea what to feel after the surgery took place. The worse thing is that you may feel less confident after the ordeal. Therefore, if you want to gain back your confidence, keep these ways in mind and you'll be on the right track soon.
