Way to bury the lead, Jeff! Yesterday’s news of Jeff Bridges’ cancer remission revealed the beloved Hollywood icon also faced COVID 19, which had him hospitalized for over a month. This put many things on hold, including filming for his new FX thriller series Old Man.
Taking on chemotherapy is no easy task. Pile that onto losing smell, restricted breathing, and medical isolation, and anyone would want to throw in the towel. But for the ever optimistic Bridges, dealing with two health crises simultaneously became a beautiful life lesson, which he shared in a handwritten letter found on his website.
His letter starts with a brief, lighthearted telling of his cancer/covid experience, saying covid made “cancer look like a piece of cake,” and “Covid kicked my *** pretty good, but I’m double vaccinated & feeling much better now.” He even granted us a rather impressive Darth Vader doodle.
But what comes next is the real tear jerker:
“While I had moments of tremendous pain…getting close to the Pearly Gates…I felt joyous and happy most of the time. This brush with mortality has brought me a great gift. Life is brief and beautiful. Love is all around us, & available @ all times. It’s a matter of opening ourselves up to receive the gift WE, (I) want some other gift that Life isn’t giving us. I mean, who would want to get Cancer and COVID? Well…it turns out I would. I would, because I get to learn about love, learn things that I never would have if I never got it.
Jeff goes on to share exactly what he learned, and it’s a message that really hits home, both literally and figuratively:
“Here’s a flash I had: Home is a place where a person can receive, give, and learn about love. And that place, HOME, is really wherever you are @ any given moment, right now, for instance.”
He then recommends some interesting book titles, song selections, and even a video about albatrosses, which I think we can all agree has equal value.
For anyone struggling to see the gift in times of pain, may Jeff’s candid and genuine words remind you to view wherever you are as an opportunity. An opportunity to learn, grow, and most importantly, to love.