This isn’t me trying to “find the silver lining” or “focus on the positive.” This is truly, deeply, how I feel, and I often wonder how lacking my character would be without these things I’ve gained from Lupus.
One of the things I’m most grateful for is how Lupus has taught me balance. I have to keep things truly balanced in my life, between stress and relaxation, work and fun, sleep and socialisation, rest and exercise. I see so many people struggle with this, and I’ve had to learn how to maintain my balance for my entire adult life. I think it makes me a more complete person.
I also think that Lupus forced me to learn self-discipline at a very young age. I couldn’t cram or pull all-nighters in undergrad, and so I had to plan how I was going to get my work done. In graduate school, I didn’t need to struggle near as much as many of my peers to figure out how to conquer the massive work load and make large academic projects happen. I’m not saying that I haven’t had struggles in graduate school– but the discipline part was something I had already had to learn.
I think having to face my own limitations in a more obvious way at a younger age helped me mature. By the time I had turned 25, I had already had to face the fact that I had tried 3 different career paths, and my health had prohibited me from each of them. Coming to terms with our own limitations is something we all must do, and for me it was in-my-face, unavoidable, undeniable. But being forced to come to terms with it also forced me to mature, and for that I am grateful.
Most of all, Lupus has taught me empathy, kindness, and compassion. I try and (I hope) give people the benefit of the doubt, always. I try not to make assumptions based on superficial impressions. I think having Lupus is what made me (I think) such a good Welfare Officer and student support worker. I try and approach all people with the same charity of spirit with which I would hope they would approach me.
Wondering what’s going on with these posts? Check out my explanation HERE!
This Isolation Life 