I’ve noticed through my many long years living with chronic illness that society seems to have a kind of unwritten rule… if you are young and disabled or chronically ill it is very sad… BUT if you are disabled and chronically ill and you are still up-beat and positive, and show up with a smile on your face through it all… well now you are an INSPIRATION! I found myself for many years falling victim to this unrealistic societal expectation… “be disabled or sick… but we don’t want to hear too much about it, or see too much of the bad/scary stuff”… but your still invited and accepted if you show up with a smile and a positive attitude and talk about other things. For me, this created a great imbalance in my life… mostly only showing up on social or in real life when I had better days physically and emotionally, and leaving all of the bad moods, depression, anxiety, languishing and pain and despair at home during private meltdowns or with a therapist, but always feeling like I had to act my way through the rest of my day with everyone else. I understand everyone is human, and no, we don’t want to spend time with people who are constantly depressed and complaining etc… but there needs to be more of a balance from society, more effort from people in our lives who are healthy to try to understand the constant 24/7 battles some people live through with their health, and offer more space and compassion for the hard days and low moods which are inevitable when someone has lost the greatest asset of life, which is your health.
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