Friday

This “topic” has nothing to do with “Friday” per se, but I thought I would write it up here since it is something I have realized is true not only for those of us with chronic illness, but for everyone in one way or another. We all have limitations. For those of us with chronic illness, it is often the manifestation of the illness, the symptoms or the fatigue or some other aspect of the illness that defines many of our “limitations.” For some people (and very frequently for those of us with chronic illness as well) their limitation is financial in nature. Some people have intellectual limitations – we all, actually, have intellectual limitations. Which brings me to my point here – there is a point at which all of us are necessarily limited by our physical and mental conditions, healthy or otherwise. Even the best athlete might not ever be able to run a mile in 30 seconds. Even the most talented musician might not be able to play every instrument on earth to a level of mastery in his or her lifetime. These are just silly examples but I hope you see where I am going with all of that. We are all limited and some of our limitations are more limiting than others. HOWEVER, in order to find acceptance and in order to ultimately TRANSCEND our limitations, we have to acknowledge what they are. We have to look our limitations squarely in the eye and learn just to be “okay” with them. That sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But we all know even RECOGNIZING the limitations one has can be outright devastating. I hope doing so doesn’t trigger such a dire reaction in you, but I do hope you have found what your limitations are and have started to learn how to live with them standing over you all the time. I really believe that acceptance is the “key” to most things; perhaps the “meaning” of life is in acceptance – I can’t say such a thing because I think the “meaning of life” is different for everyone. However, I do believe that ESPECIALLY with chronic illness, learning to ACCEPT what we “have” and how that affects every aspect of our lives and just to be OKAY with that is the only way to be able to go on and live the happiest and most meaningful lives we can.

I will surely return to this topic and THESE TOPICS very soon! I just wanted to put that one down quickly because it is something that has been on my mind a lot recently. I hope you have learned to acknowledge your limitations. *NOTE: ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF LIMITATIONS DOES NOT ENTAIL LYING DOWN AND GIVING UP! IT JUST MEANS MAKING A NOTE OF WHERE THAT LINE “IS” THAT DEFINES WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHAT YOU CAN’T DO, IN ANY REGARD. JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE ILL DOES NOT MEAN YOU CANNOT FIGHT FOR BETTER HEALTH; THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM IMPLYING BY ANY MEANS!*

At any rate, I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday (or had a wonderful Friday!) and have a happy and healthy weekend! I will be back soon soon soon!

❤ Always, Beth