No one has any comprehension of how terribly chronic illness impacts a human being, until they themselves are inflicted with it.
Everyone of course knows that it “surely must suck”…
But they can’t appreciate the gravity of it until it actually happens to them.
And no one ever thinks such a thing will happen to them.
I sure didn’t.
If I could have had just one day’s worth of what my life was going to be like…a hint of what I was in for, but could change if I made certain changes in my life…
I would have heeded the needs and made the changes.
Of course, life does not work like this.
I won’t claim to understand it. But from a spiritual perspective, which is of course where one’s mind goes during long periods of suffering (my mind did immediately anyway, having a life-long spiritual focus regardless) there simply has to be a reason for what happens.
Best case, there HAS to be a silver lining.
And I was determined to find it in every challenge I’ve been up against. Which, if I can whine for a second, is more than my lifetime’s share of suffering. I did not want it any longer, I do not want it ever again, I don’t want it to completely define me, I do not use it as a crutch or sympathy card at any time.
I want nothing to do with it, and will go lengths to prevent the issues from happening again.
Because it robs you. It pits your body against you, having you, fight yourself, trying to find a way out of pain, during every waking moment. It sucks joy like some kind of vampire. The body tortures you, in a nearly identical way to the common meaning people associate with the word “torture.” You struggle to find a way to stop the pain, and manage what it does to you mentally.
It is the cruelest of thieves.
Robbing you of your finances like any robber would, as you try to get better…
…and then takes your body, your mind, and your spirit with it.
Hence the need to prevent these kinds of robberies to begin with. Focus on health as a priority.