Our lives have been extended by treatments and that throws up all sorts of questions:

• How do I want to live?
• What do I want to do with my future?
• What are my goals?
• How am I going to achieve them?

Some people find thinking about the long-term future helpful and inspiring.

Greg: Give yourself permission to think twenty or thirty years ahead and to ask the question: “Where would I like to be at that particular stage? Do I want to be sitting here twiddling my thumbs, or do I really want my life to have amounted to something?”

Others find it useful to think about one achievable step at a time. And again, talking to people, even about the small steps, can help.

David: I came to a point where I realised I’m not going to die tomorrow so, I might as well start planning for the future. I started goal-setting and looking down the road. I looked one week ahead, one month ahead, one year ahead and then ten years ahead. I knew I had to talk to a lot of people, like a counsellor, my doctor and friends.

If we take things gradually it can be less daunting.

Ross: I took things gradually. I went to university and got a degree in writing. I ended up with a graduate certificate rather than a degree, but I was quite happy with that because I got to do the courses I wanted to do. I’ve always had a lifetime interest in cooking. So, my partner and I decided to open up a catering business and as a way of legitimising that, I got my credentials in commercial cooking. Now, I’m living out in the suburbs with my partner, my dog, my garden and my little business.

And, at times, it is hard to deal with everything so, some people push challenges away and deal with them later. Eventually they come to a place where they “get back on track”. For Ross, establishing a direction and drawing on his “inner curiosity” – “what will happen if I do this?” – are key factors in making changes and in negotiating his future.

Ross: One of the things that got me through those early days was being able to throw up a brick wall. That didn’t come down until I was seriously ill in 1996. Realising I couldn’t go on like this, I went to see counsellors and found peer support.

If you’re going to live for another twenty years you need to set goals. You need to look inside yourself and drag up that inner curiosity – if I go to university what will happen? You also need to dig up that inner strength that we all have.

Smaller, achievable changes can lead to bigger things.