Coming to Terms with my Chronic Illness Allowed me to Live Again

My head was spinning when the doctor informed me about my condition, and although I heard her, it took quite some time before I actually believed her. I didn’t want to believe her.


So, I wasted lots of time holding onto the belief that a mistake must have been made, that somehow I was exempt from chronic physical illnesses and I would prove it to everyone.

That was me not coming to terms with my illness. That was me who vented my frustrations at my wife as my life began to change.


I felt like I was transitioning from an independent, productive, working man to a dependent, disabled, burden, and I was afraid.


So, after a couple years of feeling this anger and fear, I began to realize that I may as well be dead. I mean I wasn’t doing anything to make my life better, and I decided to do something about it.


I accepted my illness for what it is. Yes, I am inconvenienced by it often, and it has caused much pain. Yet I refused to be only a spectator in my own life.


If you allow yourself to be ’only a spectator’ in your own life, you aren’t doing anything to make your life better.