What I’ve learned from 11 years of chronic illness.
A year ago, I posted a piece titled, “10 Tips from 10 Years Sick.” Well, a year has gone by and I’m still sick. So, I’ve re-visited that post, changing some of the tips and adding to others. And, of course, there are now 11 tips, not 10! At the end of the post, I hope you’ll share your own experiences.
1. The onset of chronic illness or pain is the beginning of a grieving process.
I could have weathered the first three stages of the grieving process—denial, anger, sadness—with a lot more grace had I known that grief is a natural response to a sudden, unexpected change in health. But I didn’t know. The onset of chronic pain or illness is a major life event. Looking back on what happened to me, now it seems obvious that losing my ability to freely function would trigger denial, anger, and sadness. But it took me many years to understand this and, until I did, I wasn’t able to come close to touching that fourth stage of grief: acceptance.
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