Suddenly Sick
I have had an increasing amount of patients who are coming in with problems that “just appeared one day”–out of nowhere–with problems that severely debilitate their quality of life. These patients all have a seemingly similar story: No previous health problems, no previous medications–they look and feel completely well. Then one day, they wake up with some horrible medical problem ranging from incredible pain, debilitating migraines, a life-threatening disease or an inability to conceive after many years of perfect menstrual cycles. As a practitioner, my heart aches for these people. I try my best to imagine what each person is experiencing. After listening to this over and over again, I have had to develop a coping method. I now believe that many difficulties in life can be used to help us look at the world in a different light. The lesson I have learned is to turn my sadness and feelings of hopelessness into gratitude for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. I think about my patients who suffer such bad pain that they cannot leave their homes—I never complain about having to do errands. I think about my patients who are desperately trying to have a baby—I find a unique joy is seeing pregnant women (to the point where my husband thinks I’m crazy). I do not want to wait for the day when I (or someone in my family) is suddenly sick and regret that I did not appreciate good health (and all the privileges that go along with it) while I had it! This belief system gives me the opportunity to appreciate the good things—the little things–while I have them. I understand that that life changes on a minute-by-minute basis and I want to fully appreciate each individual moment.I recently came across the following quote that might help to convey my point: “Wholeness is the ability to embrace both the light and the dark”. We all have “light and dark” in our lives, but finding a balance between them is the way to live life fully. And happily.
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