It's been 4 months since I started this page and I'm overwhelmed with the responses I've been getting! Some of you have made me cry with joy over your appreciation and encouraging comments! Thank you so much - from the bottom of my heart for reaching out to me and encouraging me to keep on keeping on!
What I get out of my writing is that this project takes the focus off of my suffering and puts it on to things that I can control. I can be creative in the kitchen on my good days and I may be chair bound on bad days but I can still focus on something other than my pain and anxiety by writing about it or reading about the next thing that I want to write about! I do have a bunch of posts I've started writing but I am researching more before I finish.
I've also been a bit pre-occupied with planning my next trip to the National Institute of Health! I'm so blessed to have been accepted into a research study there and will be going soon so stay tuned because I'm hoping to write about that as well!
So I began this project to share my journey because I believe that once a person takes control of their health and listens to their body that they will no longer feel like a victim of their illness; Because Lord knows that for too long, I felt trapped in a body that betrayed me! This being said, I don't ascribe this to mean that I will be miraculously cured (even though I have prayed for that) but I do believe that each person has the power to make small changes that can make huge differences in how they feel- or even how they think they feel!
I also believe that everything happens for a reason and that, as weird as it sounds, there is some meaning to suffering: Is it not true that we tend to seek comfort from others who we know have also suffered? We want to know that we're not alone in our suffering. We want to know that its normal to feel all the feelings and have all the thoughts that go with it. We seek advice from people that have somehow found a way to cope in their suffering. It brings us hope when we see them on the other side of their suffering as well.
Not to make light of it but: how do you know that you're the "chronic illness" person in your circle? I know - because whenever one of my friends or family members suffers, they come to me. They know that I've been dealing with a myriad of health issues my whole life and I've probably cried on their shoulders about it too. They've heard about my trials but they see me coping and when I'm not coping they're there to hold me up. There's so much raw humanity here in this place called suffering. It connects us in unexpected ways.
So if you're here today, reading my words, I pray that you are not suffering. However, I do have an inkling that you might be, and that's what brought you here. For that I want to offer you some hope. Hope that you can make a difference in how you feel if you don't give up. Hope that your suffering is temporary like a passing storm. Hope in tomorrow, And hope that there is comfort and peace available to you if you seek it out!
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