What 4 years of bad asthma taught me about life.
1). Health is all that matters
When you are in an ongoing health struggle like I have been, nothing matters more. Everything else feels irrelevant. All of your material ambitions are, at least momentarily, put on the side. You start to learn what it means to have a completely functional body. After all, if your body disfunctions, so does you life in general.
2). Self embrace
One interesting thing that I had learned about illness is that you become more... well... you! You become more authentic. You don't try to hide who you are to anybody because... what's the point? You may not even be alive tomorrow, so you might as well be yourself and let yourself go with the flow. What ever will be will be. What ever works for you works, and whatever doesn't, doesn't.
3).Small things, big difference.
When you are not able to go out as often as you would like, you start to appreciate the smaller things in life, like having a cosy bed to sleep in, or eating your favourite foods, listening to your favourite music, reading your favourite books, learning a new language, or in my case, enjoying online chess. You stop worrying about the bigger things in life, because you know you cannot attain them. You appreciate every day for what it is, whether good, bad, or indifferent.
4) Compassion
When you are suffering, you become more compassionate for others who are suffering. When you are in hospital you can see the how many people are suffering every day. Doctors and nurses from around the world dedicate their entire lives to help people recover from serious illnesses and even save lives. They do this regardless of who you are, where you are from, what you look like or sound like, or what your beliefs are. They have no biases to who they look after. All they care about is that you are feeling better than the day before, thanks to their uncompromising care and attention. I think that compassion is something that is very important in this world. Compassion is a life changing gift that can make the world so much better for so many people.
