Living With Chronic Illness – Five Important Lessons
For many years now, I’ve been living with severe hand eczema.
This is how my hands look like when they flare up.
Living with a chronic illness like this affects every portion of your life. Pain is the default mode of your being.
Chronic pain is INVISIBLE – nobody knows how much you’re suffering.
When you have palms like that, everyday activities that you took for granted become a challenge.
It hurts like hell when you try to open a bottle of water, grab onto your toothbrush, or just attempt to straighten your fingers.
The nightmares of the day are when your skin comes into contact with running water (washing hands, taking a shower). You can either scream or cry. Maybe both.
Dermatologists will tell you there’s no cure. Your condition can only be “managed” by harsh pharmaceutical drugs with nasty side effects.
Here’s what living with chronic illness can give you:
- pain
- fatigue
- stress
- anger
- anxiety
- depression
- bitterness
- suicidal thoughts
And don’t bother scanning your fingerprints at the fucking airport customs.
Notwithstanding the shit that comes with having chronic pain, here are 5 things I’ve learned.
Lesson #1: Don’t take life so seriously.
Life’s too short to give a fuck. Seriously.
There will be bad days, and there will be awful days. Some days you don’t feel like getting up. Other days you finding yourself asking: “Did I choose to be born? Fuck this.”
That’s right. You didn’t choose to be here. So why listen to what society and their little zombie-sheep slaves have to say about how you should live?
This is your life – not anybody else’s.
Lesson #2: Life IS unfair. Get over it.
You didn’t make the rules of this game. You can only play it the best you can.
Trying to make life fair is like left-wing protesters marching on the streets against the top 1%. Nothing will ever change.
If you’re smart (High IQ) – listen to this advice…
You might be better off focusing on yourself – and becoming the 1%.
Let go of how you think life should be. Because things just happen (whether good or bad), and often don’t have any logical explanation.
Lesson #3: Health is massively underrated.
Chances are you’re taking your health for granted.
Remember the magic formula for happiness:
**Wealth + Sex + Health = Freedom & Happiness**
Everyone forgets the third ingredient. If you still have your health intact, start spending more energy (and perhaps money) on it.
Lesson #4: Never lose perspective, be grateful.
Gratitude and perspective is everything.
Remember the saying: “I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”
Extremely true. What are you grateful for today?
Lesson #5: When you’re at rock-bottom, the only way is up.
As Donald J. Trump once said in 2016 – “What the hell do you have to lose?”
Take this from J.K. Diego – “When you’re at rock-bottom, the only way is up.”
The good thing about being in pain is you literally give less fucks. You’re in so much pain that you have zero excess energy to pay attention to bullshit. This blog is the direct result of having no fucks left to give. If you’re new here, you should read this entire website from beginning to end.
When you have nothing to lose, you become FEARLESS.
As the Godfather of Team Diego, I’m fearless in calling out copycat cowards.
We are the fearless Mafia who beat the bookies at their own game.
Our Team Diego member, Tommy, is an example of someone who was fearless in the face of having a gun pointed at him.
A better life awaits at the other side when you’re fearless in climbing up.
Until next time.
