Illness is One of Our Greatest Teachers
Well, as some of you know, I finally got COVID. Yes, my first time having it. Which is shocking I know, esp. as a frontline healthcare worker in a hospital setting. But I knew when I sent out my first Newsletter in years back in June and titled the Blog “COVID-19 CHANGED ME FOREVER BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD IT…WELL, NOT YET ANYWAY.” that I was totally screwing myself. But the truth is, COVID is probably going to get us all eventually, especially as quickly as these variants are mutating.
5 Important lessons I learned through getting sick with COVID:
Frustration with being ill and a burning desire to be healthy does not and can not speed up the healing process. Surrender and acceptance are the way to access peace and ease, especially when healing from an illness or injury.
Your body knows what to do to fight illness and heal. The more you can wholeheartedly trust your body to do it’s thing, the less resistance and struggle you will experience. This was a very important reminder for me while I had COIVD, as I have a history of pneumonia (several times in my life) and a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung) as a child. It was a real challenge for me to not allow my history to determine my present or future. I had to constantly remind myself that just because my lung collapsed once before doesn’t mean it will happen again. “Keep your head where your feet are. “ This is a much more liberating way to live!
NOTHING makes you appreciate your heath more than being sick. Sadly, we humans tend to forget (everything), easily and quickly, and this is to our detriment. Because if we actually remembered how awful we felt when we were sick, would would make the same decisions in our daily lives?
Would we eat the same things?
Would we sit on the couch so much?
Would we destroy our posture & core strength by staring down at our phones all the time?
Would we continue to waste our time in relationships and jobs that also make us feel shitty?
4. Keep perspective. The days & nights can feel endless when you are sick, but it’s important to zoom out and take a broader perspective on time in those difficult moments. Ex: Me talking to myself in my head: “Yes, Sondra, you are on Day 11 with COVID but what % of your life is 11 days? Just chill out.” And then back to Virgin River Season 4.
Question for reflection: Is it more helpful to take Mouse View (what is right in front of you right now)? Or Eagle View - from way up high in the sky with a seemingly endlessly wide perspective?
5. Gratitude can shift everything. I know, I know. You probably just vomited in your mouth a little when you read that - didn’t you? But really…at my sickest with COVID, I would still engage in writing in my gratitude journal. It’s an important and humbling exercise to challenge yourself to find things you are grateful for, even when you are laying in bed with severe body aches, a fever, and a cough that even frightens the dogs. Those are the moments you give yourself perspective. I won’t lie though, 2 of the things I was MOST grateful for during COVID was that I never threw up and I never got the runs. Somehow I avoided all the GI symptoms and for that, I am still, extremely grateful.
What lessons would you add to this list? What has illness taught you? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email at SondraFunk@ElevatedLivingCoaching.com
Happy August, friends!
Raina Gentry Art: Lotus Blossom, which is now the wallpaper on my phone, as a reminder to myself to live like the lotus, at home in muddy waters.