I haven't posted for a while for two reasons--I was out of town for my cousin's wedding (yay!) and then I got a cold that took me out for four days. I'm attempting today to get everything back on track.
I've been thinking about my expectations for life lately. It seems like in our society we have impossibly high expectations for our lives. We are told constantly that we can do whatever we choose to do, that we can be whatever we want to be. We have no limits. So many of our life decisions (at least as a young adult) involve discovering and meeting our wants. The needs are a given. And when those wants don't come to pass, we feel cheated. Or we feel like a failure. As my sister would say, "It's such a first world problem."
One of the things we never expect to go wrong a young adults is our health. Most of us don't live in hazardous health environments, so we expect to be superhuman into our 40s or 50s, and by the time we hit those decades, healthcare will be so advanced that any problem will have a simple, convenient solution, right? Ha.
One of the great blessings I've had over the past few years is being hammered with a stream of health issues. I really do mean it, it's been a blessing. I've seen the Lord's hand in my life related this so many times. Soon after I began my job I started getting really weak. Because of an oversight at my previous job, I found that I didn't have to wait the usual 90 days before using my insurance to visit the doctor. Severe anemia. Fast forward a year-and-a-half and, because of my routine blood tests, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (watching 4 needles get jabbed in my neck to make sure I didn't have cancer was one of the more entertaining days I've had at the doctor--I'm not being sarcastic) and high cholesterol. Another year later, it was exercise-induced asthma. My doctor is always surprised when something new pops up, but my response has been a shrug and an inquiry about the new pill I have to take for the rest of my life.
I was told in a Priesthood blessing that these health issues were to humble me. That was one of the more comforting blessings I've had in my life. I've certainly felt humbled by this (I don't know by what fluke I ended up this way, but I'm pretty full of myself and need to be taken down a few pegs every so often). I realize that I am a frail creature whose every breath is a gift from my Heavenly Father and my Savior. Strangely, it's a liberating, joyful feeling to feel so dependent on the Lord.
Here's the other side of it. Anemia, hypothyroidism, asthma--those are easy problems. As long as I'm responsible and take care of myself, they are not the slightest bit debilitating. I have 3 cousins, my age and younger, who all suffer very debilitating illnesses. How many switches does the human body have that can be flipped the wrong way, and how often does one switch cause a domino effect of issues that will shape a person's entire life? The miracle is that there are any healthy people at all on this earth when there are so many things that can go awry!
One of my cousins' struggles I only recently found out about, and that was because she started a blog about living with her condition. She is young, beautiful, has a wonderful husband and two children, and it's a miracle if she even has the energy to get up and go to the mall. Living with her condition means that choices are made in completely different ways. Instead of calculating how many errands or chores or activities with her children she can fit into her day, time wise, she has to decide which of the most important ones she will have the energy for. Unlike those of us who think we have no limits, some see their limits wherever they look. It's not an easy way to live life, but one could say that maybe their experiences have given them clearer vision. My cousin is an inspiration to me. As is her sister, who suffers from a different but no less serious condition, and has never let it stop her from finding happiness.
I've been thinking about my expectations for life lately. It seems like in our society we have impossibly high expectations for our lives. We are told constantly that we can do whatever we choose to do, that we can be whatever we want to be. We have no limits. So many of our life decisions (at least as a young adult) involve discovering and meeting our wants. The needs are a given. And when those wants don't come to pass, we feel cheated. Or we feel like a failure. As my sister would say, "It's such a first world problem."
One of the things we never expect to go wrong a young adults is our health. Most of us don't live in hazardous health environments, so we expect to be superhuman into our 40s or 50s, and by the time we hit those decades, healthcare will be so advanced that any problem will have a simple, convenient solution, right? Ha.
One of the great blessings I've had over the past few years is being hammered with a stream of health issues. I really do mean it, it's been a blessing. I've seen the Lord's hand in my life related this so many times. Soon after I began my job I started getting really weak. Because of an oversight at my previous job, I found that I didn't have to wait the usual 90 days before using my insurance to visit the doctor. Severe anemia. Fast forward a year-and-a-half and, because of my routine blood tests, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (watching 4 needles get jabbed in my neck to make sure I didn't have cancer was one of the more entertaining days I've had at the doctor--I'm not being sarcastic) and high cholesterol. Another year later, it was exercise-induced asthma. My doctor is always surprised when something new pops up, but my response has been a shrug and an inquiry about the new pill I have to take for the rest of my life.
I was told in a Priesthood blessing that these health issues were to humble me. That was one of the more comforting blessings I've had in my life. I've certainly felt humbled by this (I don't know by what fluke I ended up this way, but I'm pretty full of myself and need to be taken down a few pegs every so often). I realize that I am a frail creature whose every breath is a gift from my Heavenly Father and my Savior. Strangely, it's a liberating, joyful feeling to feel so dependent on the Lord.
Here's the other side of it. Anemia, hypothyroidism, asthma--those are easy problems. As long as I'm responsible and take care of myself, they are not the slightest bit debilitating. I have 3 cousins, my age and younger, who all suffer very debilitating illnesses. How many switches does the human body have that can be flipped the wrong way, and how often does one switch cause a domino effect of issues that will shape a person's entire life? The miracle is that there are any healthy people at all on this earth when there are so many things that can go awry!
One of my cousins' struggles I only recently found out about, and that was because she started a blog about living with her condition. She is young, beautiful, has a wonderful husband and two children, and it's a miracle if she even has the energy to get up and go to the mall. Living with her condition means that choices are made in completely different ways. Instead of calculating how many errands or chores or activities with her children she can fit into her day, time wise, she has to decide which of the most important ones she will have the energy for. Unlike those of us who think we have no limits, some see their limits wherever they look. It's not an easy way to live life, but one could say that maybe their experiences have given them clearer vision. My cousin is an inspiration to me. As is her sister, who suffers from a different but no less serious condition, and has never let it stop her from finding happiness.
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