Although there are more cancer survivors alive today than ever before, being told you have cancer can still leave you standing in the darkest place of your life, as you face the challenge of fighting a disease that threatens to take your life sooner than you expected your life might end. Finding the thinnest sliver of light lingering at the outer edge of your new reality, and then pulling that light towards you so that it fills and replaces the darkness is an act of optimism creating hope in its purest form.

When 26-year-old graphic designer Chad McComsey was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma, he decided to start a t-shirt design business as a way to stay focused on something positive and as a way to help with the financial costs of cancer treatment.

Starting a t-shirt business had been a dream of McComsey's for some time, and now it seemed the perfect time to make his dream a reality. As the practicality of his dream took form, he was reading Ernest Hemingway's biography. Hemingway's mantra was "Above all, endure." This became the slogans for McComsey's t-shirts.

You can find McComsey's t-shirts at MySpace and on the website Endure.

Ah, the festive holiday parties and dinners were fun, but now we notice a few extra unwanted pounds. No surprise that diet and exercise top the list of traditional New Year's resolutions, and with good reason. Not only do we feel better when our clothes fit easily, but staying active, exercising and keeping fit are known lifestyle choices each of us can make that will offer an added measure of cancer prevention.

But, before we finish making our list of resolutions to a slimmer waistline and better health, the inner naysayer voice pipes up to point out all the reasons why we should not even bother. The Entrepreneur Diet comes to the rescue as it busts the more common myths standing in our way to getting and staying fit, and offers a reality check to the misconceptions.

As we read the reality checks to the following top ten myths -- I'm not athletic, so even if I wanted to become more active, I can't do it; it's too late for me to exercise; exercise isn't enjoyable; a woman will get too bulky if she lifts weights; exercise is dangerous; it takes too much time to eat right and exercise; I won't be able to enjoy my favorite foods; no pain, no gain; it's inevitable that I'll gain weight as I age, so it's not worth fighting it; and I have to join a gym or buy expensive equipment to get in shape -- we realize that keeping the resolutions we are about to make are more than doable.

To read the reality checks to these top ten fitness and diet myths, visit the Entrepreneur's Work & Life column here.