Listen to the Message Illness Brings

Consider These Questions

“Nothing slows me down anymore!” Those were a few of the words to an ad on TV yesterday for a medication for MS (multiple sclerosis) that made me feel like screaming.

The ad featured a robust, middle-aged woman who was touting the features of this miracle drug. Her praise went something like this:

This drug allows me to just pick up my old life and run, run, run. Now I can go back to business as usual!

Um, have you considered that perhaps you may need to slow down?

Please don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for the advances in medicine that can bring quality of life or even healing. But it can also make us miss the forest through the trees.

I firmly believe that all illness comes bearing a message. And I’m not talking about the obvious-the migraine that your boss triggers or the chronic ache in your back that mysteriously disappears on the weekend.

The skyrocketing rise of autoimmune diseases, chronic pain, anxiety, depression and a host of “syndromes” should give us pause.

What is happening?

The pace of life, the disconnect from one another and ourselves, the struggle for survival and, well, I bet you can add in a few factors from your experiences.

There are foundational issues that are contributing to the rise of autoimmune and chronic pain. I could argue breast cancer too.

These issues include a seriously sick society that values endless acquisition, busyness, and screaming over anyone who does not agree with you.

This is not normal or healthy, by any stretch of the imagination.

But yet we agree upon the script and continue plowing forward. Health issues be damned, I’m just going to take a pill.

Then you reach a wall. For me, it was my late 40’s, early 50’s. All the coping mechanisms began falling apart. And it was showing up in my health.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), anxiety off the charts, a return of chronic pain. And according to the pathology of the tumors in my breasts, this is when malignancy starting organizing its rogue cells.

So, yeah. Back to the triumphant woman and her medication. Please, take the medication.

But remember, it is a tool; it is not The Answer.

Look into the wisdom of your body and inquire. The tension headache is saying you’re taking on too much. The IBS? Helllllooooo! My bowels weren’t the only thing irritated while I was watching my 32-year marriage disintegrate.

MS and other autoimmune diseases are scary. And STRESS is a huge culprit in causing flares.

Yes, yes, I know. You are trying to survive. You have limited options in changing because of your circumstances.

I wish I could give you a free pass here. I know it is hard. But I have found that health issues only escalate if your life is a continual cortisol event. Your physical body WILL have its day in court, er, I mean medical office.

We must take back our power. Start with saying no thank you to the volunteer opportunity. Or even HELL no to time spent with the energy draining friend. Give yourself permission to eat cereal for dinner and quit stressing over if your diet is “clean” enough.

And if you’re hauling a ton of guilt around because of some of the shitty parenting you did raising your kids, it’s time to throw that overboard too. (Ahem, ahem, I hear some parents struggle with this.)

Forgive yourself. Ask your adult kids for forgiveness, too. I speak from experience.

Take the damn to-do list and cut it in half. Screw productivity too. “Waste” some time hanging out in nature.

Please don’t wait for a serious diagnosis to clarify what REALLY needs to be done.

Schedule in time for your own self-care. I have one wise friend who blocks off regular time for naps.

The toxicity of our culture will take years, scratch that, generations to heal. I wish I could have a rosier outlook. But like most, I am looking at the state of global affairs and toxic social media right now and just shake my head.

But what I CAN control is starting with me.

This is sobering shit to me as stress can contribute to a cancer reoccurrence. Nothing like having that hang over your head.

My life has been stripped down to the foundation. As I rebuild, I will listen to the wisdom of my body with what to do.

Getting a knot in my tummy when an annoying person invites me to coffee and my “niceness” wants to say yes? That would be a NO.s

A sparkle of lightness inside when I consider another possibility? Oh, yes, please. More of that.

A gray divorce and breast cancer diagnosis are teaching me to take my own needs more seriously.

And dear one, if you are dealing with MS or other serious conditions, I am so sorry. Use whatever medical intervention you need to use. Take the prescription.

But please, look deeper. What is the message your body is speaking?

The late poet John O’Donohue gives us powerful questions to ponder in his poem ‘A Blessing For A Friend On The Arrival Of Illness’

May you find the wisdom to listen to your illness:

Ask it why it came? Why it chose your friendship?

Where it wants to take you? What it wants you to know?

What quality of space it wants to create in you?

What you need to learn to become more fully yourself

That your presence may shine in the world.

Thanks so much for reading. You can find me around the internet at www.theresawinn.com, on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. If you’d like to support my writing in a small way, feel free to buy me a coffee.