Distracting Yourself From Cancer: a list of ideas

Distract yourself during your cancer treatment. This is important. Very important. We’ve compiled a list of suggestions to help you get started.

• Exercise
• Invite people to visit for a cup of tea
• Seeing friends and family
• Crafts, knitting, sewing
• Write a poem
• Write a novel
• Write a journal
• Keep a gratitude list
• Sort out your photos
• Learn something new (a language, musical instrument)
• Cooking and baking
• Gardening
• Plan home redecorations
• Plan a holiday
• Start a blog
• Pinterest
• Relaxation techniques
• Podcasts
• Audio books
• Reading
• Films
• Sort out some cupboards
• Clean things
• Sort out things
• Painting
• Singing
• Binge-watching a TV series
• Mindfulness colouring books

Further information

Future Dreams hold a range of support groups, classes, workshops and events to help you and your carers during your breast cancer diagnosis. These are held both online and in person at the London-based Future Dreams House. To see what’s on offer and to book your place, see here.

To return to the homepage of our Information Hub, click here where you can access more helpful information, practical advice, personal stories and more.

Reviewed February 2023

The information and content provided on this page has been written from a patient’s perspective then reviewed by a breast care nurse and it is intended for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice. Please contact your medical team for advice on anything covered in this article and/or in relation to your personal situation. The links and/or recommendations in this article to third-party resources are for your information and we take no responsibility for the content contained in those third-party resources. Any product recommendations made in this article are not product endorsements and unless otherwise stated, they are made without any affiliation to the brand of that product. We ask you to note that there may be other similar products available.