What Would You Like To Do For The Rest of Your Life?

If I asked you “what would you like to do for the rest of your life”, what would your answer be? How does this question make you feel?

If you are living with chronic illness, it very likely makes you feel scared and vulnerable. Perhaps you think it’s not even worth considering.

That is such a normal reaction. How can we possibly know what we want to do with the rest of our lives when our bodies can surprise us at any moment, with debilitating symptoms and crisis situations?

Getting to the next level always requires ending something, leaving it behind, and moving on. Growth itself demands that we move on. Without the ability to end things, people stay stuck, never becoming who they are meant to be, never accomplishing all that their talents and abilities should afford them.

Henry Cloud, Necessary Endings

I love this quote by Henry Cloud. Throughout my life, I have always looked forward. I have always been thinking of ways to improve my personal life and professional life. At work, we used to call it “continuous improvement”. Never resting on our laurels. Reminding ourselves we were only as good as our last achievement, and today was a new day. A new opportunity to improve, to inspire, to embrace change.

Chronic Illness And Continuous Improvement

When we live with chronic illness, the concept of continuous improvement seems almost ridiculous doesn’t it.

But is it?

Our lives, while significantly impacted by our diseases, don’t need to be completely dictated by them. We can make some changes, even tiny ones, that could catapult us into a new future. We could, over time and with a little vision, see our new circumstances as a time of opportunity, rather than a time of retreat and despair.

I hear you saying, oh Sam, it’s too late, too hard, my illness is all consuming.

I know and understand how tiredness, pain, and disease symptoms can be crippling both emotionally and physically.

I also know this chronic illness crippled state feels so much more oppressive when I allow it to become my entire world.

Sometimes depression takes hold so severely that you really are stuck and just can not move forward. If this is your situation, please don’t try and cope alone. Seek professional help to ensure you can break free from the chains that are keeping you from seeing a way forward. A helpline, your counsellor or psychologist, or even a close friend may be the helping hand you need to get unstuck.

So, how can we move forward and become the person we were meant to be?

You may have had dreams in the past, and chronic illness has snatched them from you. It’s cruel, and it hurts on every level. There is no denying it.

However, holding onto those dreams, which are clearly now unrealistic, may be causing you to be stuck and unable to move on.

There is a solution. We can leave those unrealistic dreams behind in order to find new ones, especially if we want to move on with our lives.

Creating New Dreams And Moving On

When creating new dreams with chronic illness, one thing is for sure, it will take time and patience to create a realistic vision for our future. We have very real constraints that simply can’t be ignored. The question is, can they be overcome?

So let’s imagine we are sitting in a beautiful cafe, enjoying high tea together and appreciating the food, decor, china (yes this is my dream but go with me here) and we are having a good chat when I casually ask you ,“what would you like to do for the rest of your life”?

What would your answer be?

Given that you are likely at home reading this, how about you write your answer on a piece of paper. Look at it for a while. Ponder on it. Think about the possibilities. Think about the challenges. Think about how it makes you feel. Are you scared, excited, or both? Do you have a sense of peace that is right for you?

It’s when I arrive at this place of peace that I know I’m on the right track to embrace my new dream, to embrace change.

The answer I wrote down to the question; “what would I like to do with the rest of my life?”, I’m sure will come as no surprise:

“To connect in a meaningful way with people suffering from chronic illness, in the hope my shared experiences can help someone else, to live a little better with their disease”

It’s both my dream and my vision statement. It’s also become my reality.

Through blogging, writing, my FB forum and more recently my Podcast and my Book being published, I am actually living my dream despite my disease.

I’ve had to let go of so many things to move forward with my chronic illness life. As a result I’ve grown so much as a person. My understanding of the impacts of disease and disability on the chronic illness sufferer, was so shallow prior to becoming ill. I always cared and I thought I had genuine empathy, but it was never going to be on the level it is now.

My passion for leading, coaching and developing others, was always my strength throughout my career. Back then, never in my wildest dreams, would I have thought this passion was going to be completely flipped on it’s head, in order to be able to redirect my entire focus, on a whole new chronic illness community.

While I wouldn’t wish chronic illness on anyone, I do believe we can gain deep life experiences as a result of it. Life needs to be lived, no matter our circumstances.

I believe we all have skills and talents, some from our life, pre chronic illness, and new skills acquired as a result of living with our disease.

You may decide to take up a new hobby, learn a language, volunteer online, or study online. The ideas and options are not limited and don’t need to be beyond your chronic illness capabilities.

It may only be baby steps you take towards doing something that makes your heart sing, but you just never know where those steps may lead.

I believe you can find a way to reinvent yourself that is right for you, and as Henry Cloud says;

” Growth itself demands that we move on. Without the ability to end things, people stay stuck, never becoming who they are meant to be, never accomplishing all that their talents and abilities should afford them.”

Pleased don ’t remain stuck. Break free. Move forward. Live your best life possible despite chronic disease.

Love

Sam x

My Podcast

If you would like an audible version of my blog, please check out my Podcast, Medical Musings With Sam

Medical Musings with Friends

If you’re looking for genuine support, care, understanding and friendship, you are so welcome to join my closed Facebook support forum, Medical Musings with Friends . It’s a safe place to connect with others living with chronic and complex diseases, who truly understand the daily challenges. A warm welcome awaits.

My Book

My book “My Medical Musings”, is published by Imaginewe Publishers and available now to purchase as a paperback or e-book.

Here are the links to online retailers if you would like to purchase the book:

Imaginewe Publishers

Amazon

Koorong

Booktopia

Book Depository

Angus and Robertson

Barnes and Noble

Blackwells

If you would like an audible version of my blog, please check out my Podcast, Medical Musings With Sam

I’m also a Contributor at “The Mighty”. You can check out my published articles at My Author Page

I also write @ Blogs by Christian Women

I’m a member of the Chronic Illness Bloggers Network the Grace Girls Facebook Group and the Showered In Grace Group

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