When living with chronic illness it can be hard to not get to a place where you feel like you are your illness. When illness truly does touch nearly every part of our lives from what we are able to do for school/work, how we are able to move about in the world, what we are able to eat, what activities we can or can’t participate in, what our bodies are able to wear for shoes, clothing, and perhaps even the simplest things like what music our ears/brains will tolerate and which hobbies we can have. It is hard to not allow ourselves to become defined by our illness especially as the years drag on.
I urge you however, to do the continual inner work to push against this natural tendency… as difficult as that may be at times for both yourself and those in your lives. It can be so easy to put ourselves into a box and for others to put us into a box to be “Jane, the girl with mitochondrial,” or “Evan, the guy with cystic fibrosis.” In a way our illnesses yes are a part of us, and they always will be, and with time and experience, you will learn to grow and learn from your illness and suffering as it will push you to become a more caring, stronger, more compassionate person as you move about in the world, but you need to ensure that YOU, the you who is your heart, your mind, and your soul is not lost and crushed under the weight of illness.
You can still be the guy or gal who loves playing soccer even if your now wheel-chair bound, the person who loves hiking in the mountains, or deep sea fishing, going out to happy hour with the girls from the office, running half-marathons, having a full college curriculum, or crushing it as a manager of your business/company you no longer work for. You are still YOU, and your should always honor yourself and your uniqueness, don’t let your illness take that from you. You may show up in the world differently now than you did in the past, but you are still amazing in every way and the world needs you to show up!
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