I have been very ill numerous times throughout my life and I currently have a condition that has a 60% chance of survival for three years and will likely go blind beforehand. There are certain areas of growth that come from pain and disability, including gains in humility, compassion, resilience, valuing loved ones, enjoying the present etc. At one time, I had a severe, unexplained stomach bleed that I barely lived through. That experience did give a great deal of spiritual insight and an overwhelming love for all others. I’ve seen my daughter struggle to relearn to speak after a brain aneurysm ruptured and become a kinder person from the experience, and my father learn humility in the midst of terrible back pain. So, yes there are areas of growth. But it’s not something that I would wish on anyone. There are other ways to learn these lessons. Illness is often boring and tedious. It steals your soul rather than enlarge it. Rather than being in the world helping and contributing, you are just trying to take a breath or walk across the room. I love intellectualizing difficult problems, even this horrid election, but in the case of illness, I just wish it would go away. But I will live this day, in which I feel fairly well, as best as possible, no matter what comes my way. That I have learned to do from illness.
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