Earlier this week I was interviewed on the radio about my recent surgery to remove my bladder. Towards the end of the interview, following glowing words from my partner, the interviewer asked if I was a “tough cookie”? I went on to proclaim how I had been thrown a lot of challenges, I was a big believer in positive mental attitude and how it had got me through a lot. Since that interview, I have reflected on my words. I have been praised a lot for my positivity, it’s something I pride myself on in fact but I wanted to take a deeper look into why I think it’s useful? Does it actually make a difference in terms of recovering from an operation for example? Or is it all airy-fairy and trying to defeat the inevitable? Did having PMA help when I was lying unconscious during my surgery? Could it have prevented any of the operations, the cancer diagnosis or other medical complications in the past? The answer is unequivocally no, of course it couldn’t. It wasn’t even that I smiled as I