10 Takeaways From Chronic Illness
As someone who has spent the last few years on a quest to heal from the debilitation and pain of Chronic Lyme Disease, I can confidently say I’ve learned many lessons. Through the good, the bad, the enlightening, and the extremely dark moments, I’ve taken away many lessons, realizations, and truths that have all lead me to where I am today.
Ever since my diagnoses, I knew it was my purpose and greatest mission in life to help others find healing. Whether it’s through sharing tidbits of my own journey or simply by connecting with others, I knew that I had no choice but to pivot from feeling like a victim to my circumstances to one who shares their experiences with the goal of helping and healing others.
I actually consider myself incredibly lucky. Those of us with chronic illness (while yes it’s a journey) are lucky enough to experience pain that leads us to our purpose. I always tell people that chronic illness is my greatest blessing because I found my life’s path at only 20 years old. I found a deep passion and obsession for wellness and I’m grateful for that every single day. However (if we’re being very clear) it’s not the sexy kind of wellness you see on Goop. I’m talking the kind of wellness where you find yourself in fetal position on the bathroom floor asking some higher power for a sign, a message, a miracle. The kind of wellness that requires you do deep inner work forcing you to get still, sit in your own darkness, and find your way out the other end. The wellness that breaks you down and forces you to build yourself back up. That’s the wellness I’m talking about. The silver lining? This pain becomes your greatest teacher and guide. And, in hindsight, I’m grateful for every moment of it (even the crying-and-praying-on-the-bathroom-floor saga).
Below are 10 most important chronic illness takeaways, lessons, truths, and realizations I’ve had thus far on my journey. We’ll call this one my ode to chronic illness. Here we go.
Truth 1: From pain emerges purpose. The hardest, darkest, most painful thing you go through will always provide a silver lining- a little blip of good, positive, and transformative. No matter how hard it is, pain brings us closer to our purpose if we allow it to. And when we turn our pain into our purpose, we are truly unstoppable.
Truth 2: Through chronic illness, or simply through the hard sh*t in life, you learn to become your own advocate. You go inward and find healing on your own. You pave the way for yourself. You cultivate deep inner strength to get by. By no means is it light stuff, but it’s powerful stuff that changes you for the better. Learn to be your own advocate and watch the strength you are able to cultivate within.
Truth 3: Get in tune with your intuition. We all know our own bodies the best, and when something feels internally off, we need to listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us. This is where intuition comes in. Intuition exists for a reason- as a means of survival, a guide, and our own internal compass. We all have intuitive instincts, and if there is something going on within our bodies, we KNOW! You know that gut feeling you get when making certain decisions or when around certain people? It might be good and it might feel off. That’s your intuition. Listen to it!
Truth 4: We can all do hard things. I heard a quote a couple years ago, “I can do hard things”, and immediately wrote it down in the notes app on my phone. Each time I was struggling, having a flare up, feeling bad for myself, or simply going through the throws of chronic illness- I looked at it and repeated it as a mantra. Because it’s true. We can all do hard things. On the hard days, repeat it over and over to yourself and remember that we are all more capable that we think. The pain, the suffering, the heartache, the transitions, the low days, whatever it is you’re going through, you can handle it because we can all do hard things.
Truth 5: Chronic illness is a teacher. It expands our pain threshold so much that we do things we never knew we could do. We navigate things we didn’t know were possible to navigate and we begin to view life differently. We see life in new ways, through a lens of gratitude, and each day we feel good is one of the best days of our lives. Chronic illness teaches us to love even when we don’t want to, to lean into the relationships that go deep, to gravitate towards people, places, and things that make us feel seen, and to show up every day even when it feels hard. Because showing up when it feels hard, feels better than not showing up at all.
Truth 6: One of the most healing things you can do is become your own best friend. Lean into the relationship you have with yourself and nurture it. Discover what you like and dislike, what triggers you, what brings you moments of joy and gratitude. At the end of the day, the only promised relationship we have is the one we have with ourself. So learn about yourself, nurture yourself, nourish your body, love yourself, love your body. Make a commitment to learn about yourself over and over again until you look at yourself in the mirror and feel the deepest, most unconditional love for who you see. Then continue learning and nurturing. Cultivating deep, unconditional self-love is deeply healing.
Truth 7: The Universe has a plan for us. Each and every one of us. If you’re reading this and rolling your eyes because of how cringe and woo woo it is- that’s fine! But just know that Universe still has a plan for you and whether you believe it or not, you’re right where you’re meant to me. We are all.
Truth 8: Life is too short to not do the things we love. In the peak of my sickness, before starting Be Well, I was frustrated, tense, and constantly felt unfulfilled because I knew I wasn’t pursuing my passion. I knew I wasn’t following the path that I was destined to follow. I wasn’t sharing the stories, the thoughts, and the knowledge that deep down I knew I should share. Rather, I was following the crowd. I was living out of alignment with myself so that I felt in alignment with others. Funny how we do that right? Here’s the truth: no matter how long you try to live out of alignment with yourself, it will never last. The Universe will continue to push you, nudge you, and annoy the living sh*t out of you until you get in alignment. Because being unaligned is not a natural state and the Universe always guides us back to what is right and natural. Now, once I began doing what deep down I knew I desired to do (share my story and connect with others) a deep sense of fulfillment, joy, and purpose came into my life. And it happened FAST. So here’s the takeaway: we often shy away from doing the things that we love, from turning our pain into purpose, from sharing our gifts with the world out of fear of what others might think. But take it from me: shying away from the things we love and gatekeeping our gifts benefits nobody. In fact, it just creates lack of flow, stagnation, and frustration in our lives! So let go of the fear and follow your path. Take the risk, start the thing you’ve been holding off, do the things you’re afraid other people will judge you for. Live for yourself and nobody else.
Truth 9: Self-growth comes from showing up even when we don’t want to. It comes from waking up early even when you want to sleep in, from moving our bodies even when we feel “tired”, from doing the meditation, the breath work, taking the walk even when we’d rather scroll on our phones. Because when has growth ever emerged from scrolling on our phones for 5 hours? Yes, Tik Tok can wait. So keep coming back to the things that challenge you but that leave you feeling better than you felt before. Nothing compares to strengthening the relationship that we have with ourselves.
Truth 9: We hear the most once we get quiet. Learn to get still and tune out the noise. Go inward and focus on yourself, decide what your priorities are, listen to what comes up when you’re in stillness. Moving away from a state of constant stimulation and leaning into stillness heals and brings us closer to ourselves.
Truth 10: Everything happens in divine timing. This is something I can confidently say now, that everything happens in perfect timing. However, if three years ago you were to tell me that I would be sharing my story and helping others find healing, I wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s because three years ago, I didn’t have the experiences, the knowledge, the wisdom that I have now. To my point: everything happens in divine timing. Don’t rush life! Everything comes in time.
These tidbits and takeaways from Chronic Illness have truly changed my life. I’ve learned to take the hard things and turn them into something great. I’ve learned to find the gratitude in the even the hardest of moments. While it’s not easy work, it’s how we evolve, grow, and ultimately create the life that we desire.
When things get hard, I challenge you to ask yourself, “What is this trying to teach me?” and “How can I grow from this?" and see what comes up for you. Changing your perspective, looking for silver linings, and leaning into gratitude is how we begin to detach from victimization and grow from our experiences and circumstances.
If you’re struggling with chronic illness, I see you. If you’re not struggling with chronic illness, but you’re simply struggling, I also see you. x
