In Sickness and in Health

            I don’t get sick much. It’s something I should be happy to say, I suppose. I preferred the version of it that went “I never get sick”, though. Back in high school, my friends said I was an elf because I went over ten years without getting sick.

            I know I’m lucky in my health, only getting sick every two or three years, but it has its downsides. The biggest problem with having a really good immune system is that, on the rare occasion a sickness sneaks through, it’s usually a pretty strong one that is hard to get rid of – such as the one I’m currently just getting rid of that’s been here just over a week.

Another downside is that I’m remarkably unprepared for getting sick and, as a result, I’m not the greatest at handling it. As a mind-over-matter person, I always try to carry on with my life like nothing is wrong. I’ve always held that I mostly stay healthy through sheer stubbornness. It works to a point. Unfortunately, once a sickness sets in, it tends to lower physical efficiency and/or shut down the mind’s functionality. Working through that is hard when it means either bending metal or creative writing.

            It got me thinking about a saying I picked up somewhere. “Good health is only appreciated by the unhealthy” or something like that. It’s really true, in every sense. Whether it be a passing cold, a chronic disease or a mental illness, no one appreciates what it means to be healthy like someone who is not. No one wants to be healthy more than them.

            Everyone gets sick at some point in their lives, so everyone should have an understanding of this. Yet, as soon as we become adults, our sickness becomes our responsibility. We’re to get healthy as soon as possible so we can get back to work, to the daily grind. It’s as if we chose to get sick.

            Again, I’m lucky in this area because I’m self-employed and have a very loving wife. The only one pushing me to get better and back to work is myself, and I know my limits. But many people out there don’t have that advantage. The mentality is get better, get better, or at least take these pills that will make you stay sick longer, but at least you’ll be functional. Meanwhile, all this extra stress weakens the immune system and makes it harder for the person to get healthier.

            You’d think that, in a society as advanced and aware as ours, we wouldn’t do that to people. People who get sick shouldn’t be afraid they won’t be able to pay their bills if they take a few days or a week off to recover. People who are chronically ill shouldn’t have to work through that sickness just to survive, let alone have a hope of recovering.

            You’d think we’d have figured out how to take care of each other by now.

To all the sick people out there, I hope you get better soon. I’ve almost got my health back and I promise that – at least for a while – I’ll appreciate it as much as you, and I’ll be wishing that there was enough of my luck to go around.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.