Living with Illness

Illness is something that can change perspectives and meanings in life. Living with illness is like being in a dark room, not sure and not knowing what could happen next.

Illness has got lots of meanings and interesting reflections to contemplate. To dive into its meanings, one needs to pause everything in life. The world around us can be very distructing and overwhelming at times. But when you pause, you realize things you never knew before. When you stop for a moment, your understanding towards things shift to another level.

Observing a mother with her handicapped 16 year old child who has brain atrophy disease since birth. How she talks to him and cuddles with him. I asked her: does he understand you? She said: I don’t know if he understands me or not. But he smiles at times.

Illness can bring you down to earth and experience the true meaning of life. When I see people chase fame, attention, money, career success and happiness, they don’t realize the real blessing they are living in this moment.

A lot of tears and pain come with living with illness. A lot of disappointment and frustration too. But holding on to hope, that everything happens for a wise reason and that we can’t control everything can make the experience little lighter.

At the end, nothing is in our hands. Not our life. Not our health. Not our circumstances. We are living a life that was planned for us with all its ups and downs. The thing we can do is live in the moment, reflect on the wisdom of the situation, hold on to hope and accept that we don’t belong here. We belong to God who is bigger, higher and wiser.