A new book offers the cancer journey as a model for overcoming life’s challenges

A memoir and a self-help/personal development book, Braving Your Adversity: Life Strategies to Endure Your Road Ahead With Hope, Faith, and Courage by Rob Bare is available now. Rob recounts the history of his marriage to his wife, which culminated in her truly heroic battle against cancer, in the book. While Tiffany may have won the war, cancer may have won the battle. Because of Tiffany’s bravery, upbeat attitude, and capacity to teach everyone involved in her battle valuable lessons, she emerged as the victor. Rob initially believed he was helping her, but in the end he realized she had actually helped him by providing examples of how to deal with difficulties in all facets of life.

Tiffany’s journey is remarkable because she battled cancer for years while Rob, their kids, other family members, and friends all accompanied her on the cancer roller coaster as she went from being diagnosed to fighting to being declared cancer-free to having the cancer return to losing the fight. Tiffany’s journey serves as an example of strength, courage, resilience, the ability of faith in God to bring solace in the darkest of times, and for those who loved her, how to come to terms with loss.

I won’t go over Rob and Tiffany’s entire story here because doing so would ruin the magic of reading this book, but I will say that it’s not all tragedy. There are humorous moments, like how Rob and Tiffany met, and moving moments of success in both one’s family and career. However, even more significant than Tiffany’s cancer battle is the fact that this book was written to support the reader who is going through their own challenges. Rob has become the means by which Tiffany can continue to help others through her story, even though her physical body may have passed away.

Additionally, Tiffany’s story is interspersed with tales of other people who overcame adversity to achieve success. Two examples are Jim Kelly, a professional football player who also experienced the death of his son, and Florence Chadwick, the first woman to successfully swim across the Catalina Channel. Rob’s track team’s accomplishments are also the subject of some wonderful tales.

Throughout Braving Your Adversity, Rob provides helpful guidance on how to get past any challenges you encounter. This advice is based on his hard-won experiences. Each chapter includes exercises to help the reader reflect on their own struggles as well as Tiffany’s, allowing them to choose the best course of action for change. For example, the first chapter ends with these exercise questions:

1. Who do you love who is overcoming hardship (disease, illness, mental health, etc.) in your family or circle of friends?)?

2. Why are you prepared to put up such a fight for them?

3. What are some strategies for overcoming obstacles? List specific tactics, people to contact, etc.

4. How has God intervened in your life when you have faced severe hardship?

One advantage of these questions is that they force the reader to think more broadly about their challenges than just the one they are currently facing. They also encourage them to consider challenges they have faced in the past and the lessons they can learn from them as they confront the current challenge.

Rob and Tiffany’s steadfast faith in God plays a significant role in the story. Throughout her journey, they never forgot to give thanks to God for even the smallest blessings, and they always sensed his presence, even in the darkest hours. Tiffany was always a positive role model and a person of faith, and at times it seemed like she was providing comfort rather than in need of it. She even went so far as to tell Rob that she wished for him to get remarried after she passed away. I’ll let you discover the outcome for yourself.

A heartfelt piece of advice based on personal experience, Braving Your Adversity. Readers will learn new ways to believe in themselves and be motivated to persevere no matter what challenges they encounter. Without a doubt, this book will motivate you to never give up and to develop a future plan that will help you overcome any challenges you may be facing. No matter what issues you are dealing with, as both Rob and Tiffany would advise you, the struggle will be worthwhile because of the incredible person you will become once you have overcome it.