Life
It’s Good To Get Sick Sometimes
I’m back from Christmas with my in-laws in Southern Virginia. As much as I enjoy the annual visit from the jolly fat man, this year he left us a rather unsavory gift - the stomach flu. Fortunately, he was nice about it and left us the kind that has the courtesy to wait until the stroke of midnight on December 26 before inflicting damage. It managed to hit nearly everyone of us (eighteen in number) within a 48 hour period. The only two to escape the bug’s wrath were my daughters who stayed well only because they had had it the week before.
Unlike most of my family, I didn’t spend most of the time in the bathroom throwing up. I was nauseous, but I have the kind of stomach that selfishly wants to keep whatever it has. The real kick in the pants for me was the body aches, particularly in my knees and back. So, it was a welcome relief to feel 85% better the next day. As I was enjoying a cup of early morning coffee (after I slept most of the previous day away, I was more than happy to wake up at 5am), it struck me how appreciative I was to be feeling healthy. It’s like the old song line: “You don’t know what you got until its gone.”
And it’s also a main principle of my personal philosophy: to know one thing, we must know its opposite. It’s the natural yin and yang of our humanity. Too often, though, we only want to know what the sunny side of the hill looks like and deny that there is the darkness of the shaded side. It’s natural to want to avoid pain, sorrow, even our inclinations toward our less noble qualities. But does this truly honor ourselves? Does this avoidance lead to a better life?
I think back to those moments in my own life which are painful: getting the emotional crap kicked out of me in high school, getting rejected by a job which I thought I had “in the bag,” suffering a debilitating anxiety attack at a relative’s wedding. Would I want to relive any of these moments? I’d be a liar if I said I would. Yet, each one has offered me an opportunity to experience my own humanity and to better recognize love, joy, and success. Sometimes bad things happen to good people so they can be better people.
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Chris, nice post, although I would appreciate the chance to rebut the argument that it is ever good to get sick! ;>) My wife and I just returned from vacation and we are both sick and I can say without reservation that it truly sucks. But you’re absolutely right that the experience of feeling only slightly better than death on a cracker this week will deepen my appreciation when I feel better next week. Thanks for challenging even the industrial-strength crabby among us to find the silver lining. Happy New Year to you!
Jeff, hope you got sick after vacation rather than during. I can’t think of much that’s worse than being sick while away from home…I was sick while working an association conference in Boston in rainy November and I was feeling, as you eloquently put it, like death on a cracker. So, feel better my crabby friend. Good health to all in the New Year.
Wow, sounds like you had your very own epidemic Chris. So sorry it happened during your holidays away…but, so glad you’re on the mend. I hope your New Year was a lot better. Health and happiness to you and your family in 2006.
Chris - maybe you ought to title your post - “The light side to dark times,” based on reader comments who’d prefer not to get sick! It is so true that we appreciate something after we have experienced its opposite. I find your post resonates in a deeply personal way for me. A week ago my dermatologist told me that a small mole she had removed is pre-cancerous. She went ahead and took out a chuck of surrounding skin, standard treatment for melanoma. In my head I know I’ll be okay. But the rest of me is feeling fragile. And with that sense of fragility comes a heightened awareness of all that really matters to me. In my case, that is the “gift.” May we all be blessed with glorious health!
Deb, thank you for sharing your experience. I hope all is truly well for you now. And I’m sure that this episode has enhanced your passion for life.
And Joy…thanks for your thoughts. As a mom, you surely know how hard it is to keep all the kids and yourself healthy at the same time (particularly in the winter time).
The Benefit to Shedding Tears
Christmas morning found me reading a Christmas card my husband of 31 years gave me. As tears rolled down my cheeks, one of my daughters looked at me quizzically. I told her I was having a Hallmark moment. My heart