T. Griffith is a participant of Writing the Journey, LBBC's writing workshop for people affected by breast cancer. The workshop is led by experienced facilitator, author and poetry therapist Alysa Cummings, who has personally experienced breast cancer. Ms. Griffith wrote the poem below, called "same difference," for the workshop. She says, "Writing allows you to live in your own world or in that of one of your characters. I use writing to help relieve and release stress and to help others cope in their journey. Everyone should understand that no one is alone on this journey!"

LBBC is publishing Writing the Journey pieces on our blog throughout the fall.

Same difference

A voice in my head asks, who are you?

It asks, where are you?

It states, you are unrecognizable!

I reply:  I am me, I am here staring at you in the mirror, I am the same person I’ve always been!

The voice states, not sure you have noticed, but somewhere between always and today, things have changed.

As I begin to utter, what do you mean……

A list is rattled off

Your smile is different

Personality different

Hair wayyy different

Skin different

Nails different

Sleep pattern different

Energy level different

Tolerance different

Family bonds different

Friendships different

Needs, wants and desires all different

Stamina different

My breasts are different

You are wholesale regarded differently.

I wonder in my head, nothing is the same, nothing will ever be the same.  A piece of me is missing, I am no longer whole or complete.  I am fragments of the whole.  I am 1 in 8.

I tried so hard to remain the same that, be it good or bad, I stopped noticing the differences.

I blurt out, sameness is overrated so you can stop looking for me like a stalker in the night.

My perfectly old norm is gone, my new norm stands before you, ready for the world.

T. Griffith is 41 years old, from Queens, New York. She was diagnosed with stage I triple-negative breast cancer in October 2016.