Many people, more than you would think or know about, have the burden or the lifelong mission to fight a certain disease without the public recognizing. Sometimes reading of the experience from others is a way to identify and see that other people are experiencing similar struggles in their daily life without us even knowing. This is why I choose to share a few of my thoughts and experiences. I feel like the pandemic, we experienced in the last few months, made health a topic that isn’t that inexpressible anymore and urged a lot of people to think about the physical health of the public, our loved ones and of ourselves. Which is another reason why I decided to share a blog post on physical health from my current state of mind.
Some days people fighting a disease like cancer or who are living with chronicle sicknesses don’t even think of their problems every day and it feels just like living a normal life, despite taking a daily medicine or having a few more doctors appointments. But there are also days, when people experiencing an illness feel like giving up, as if they were defective in a way and are searching for any reason why such a thing would happen to them in particular. It can be consuming, searching for a reason, pondering about how to live happily after all and having a feeling of even being a burden for others. Mostly these very thought influence one mentally in a bad way while it is also physically difficult to handle for the person concerned. It is especially difficult to manage one’s own thoughts when experiencing setbacks in one’s health or when feeling weak and exhausted because of medications or when one’s physical appearance alternates due to certain side effects of new medications. Just to mention a few things some people are going through without you even knowing.
For me personally the thought that everything happens for a reason helps accepting certain things. Believing that my path is made for me specifically and nothing would cross my way if something like destiny wouldn’t think of me as strong enough to deal with it, empowers me. Still there are days I am wondering as well if I really can tackle certain problems and have the strength. Although for a lot of people, this may sound very spiritual, I reckon that there are a lot of different ways to deal with experiencing health issues and every concerned person needs to find its own way of dealing with its disease. Please keep in mind that this only is my personal approach I am sharing.
The main factors of handling a chronicle disease or something like cancer or leukemia is one’s surrounding and the strength and attitude towards life. It is easier to find purpose in living and to not focus too much on one’s sickness and how life would end if the people surrounding you treat you not any different or weak but are still there for you when you are struggling to cope physically or mentally.
I prepared a few things I consider important to know when being confronted with for example a chronically ill person:
- ask the person something personal when sharing their diagnoses -e.g „How are you feeling right now concerning this certain disease?“
- don’t doubt what they are sharing with you -e.g. „And the doctors are really sure about that?“ or avoid saying something like „I can’t believe that young people also can experience such a thing!“
- show interest in their specific case instead of asking general question -e.g. „How has your life been different since the diagnosis?
- offer your help -e.g. „If you need to talk or someone to pick you up after a doctors appointment, I’d be happy to help you out!“
- ask a person directly about their well-being instead of addressing others (life partner for instance) in your surroundings -e.g. Avoid this: „Isn’t that pretty difficult having such a disease? (directed at another person but the actually ill one)“ And try saying this instead to the affected person: „I am sure this must have been hard on you.“
- ask if the person is willing to share a few things and if it’s okay to be curious -e.g. „Is it fine with you to talk about it right now? I am not that familiar with this certain disease.“
Feel free to share personal experiences of yours in the comments or start a conversation with me via the message device in the contact section of the blog as I want this blog to be a space of understanding and personal growth.
itsnoraspage 