This week I’ve been contacting other people who are thriving despite chronic illness as I’m really excited to be putting together a new resource for you, so watch this space!
I do find my work as a coach very satisfying, I love helping people overcome their challenges to take back control from chronic illness, but actually I want to do more. I really want to help people to live a dream life despite the limitations imposed on them by chronic illness.
In my experience life with chronic illness doesn’t have to be a compromise, or a faded grey compared to the multicolour life of full health. It is going to be different certainly, but once that is accepted and the dreams that accompany a healthy life have been let go of, a new dream can be dreamed which can be just as satisfying, possibly even more so!
Big claims hey? Before we encounter life challenging events such as chronic illness, not many of us get the opportunity to really understand ourselves well enough to know what real satisfaction will look like. Our dreams are often tainted by societies values, or the desire to be successful in order to earn enough money to compensate ourselves for the fact that 90% of time life isn’t very enjoyable. When we are able to reward ourselves with fun experiences and coveted possessions to compensate the drudgery, we think we are happy, but chronic illness has taught me that that isn’t real happiness at all!
For me a dream life is one where I feel at peace, one where I experience joy many times each day and one where I feel the satisfaction of sharing myself authentically and making a difference to the world. A dream life is one where I know happiness and can share it with others!
We don’t need a private jet or a tropical island for this kind of happiness. For each person this authentic kind of dream life is going to be different because each of us has different talents and experiences to share with the world. Each of us has a unique ability to contribute to make the world a better place. We don’t have to do that in huge ways, because if everybody plays their part the world will change!
Often chronic illness snatches away opportunities to express our unique talents and we can be left feeling empty and useless. However, I’ve learned that I have many talents that I didn’t even notice before because they were obscured by my active self. I’ve also learned that when you slow down a bit, it’s easier to appreciate and share more deeply the wonderful gifts of love and joy. We all have the ability to love and be loved, to be joyful and share our joy with others. Paying more attention to these gifts can, not only help you transform your life, it will help transform the world too.
Even though you have a chronic illness it is within your power to help change the world! Isn’t that a life worthy of dreaming about?
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