The benefits of health issues in life

I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better. – Samuel Butler

Health issues …Is it good or is it bad for people to experience health issues?

While most people would argue that “NO, under no circumstance health issues could benefit me,” the way I see things is a little different.

But before getting to the benefits of health issues, let’s talk a bit about time.

UPDATE: I’ve been tagged by Maria from NeverTheSameRiverTwice and John from TechnologyForLiving with the ThinkDifferent challenge, a challenge requiring bloggers to see the positive side in a negative experience or event. I think this post fits in perfectly.

Time

The time that I am referring to here is the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present and then into the past.

It is common among young adults to live life freely, without too many thoughts concerning what they are going to accomplish before their time is up. It is a natural behavior, because the point at which they will run out of time seems to be so distant into the future that it is almost like their time here is unlimited.

But as free and liberating as this perspective may be, it has two serious downfalls: it encourages procrastination and reduces the alertness of the mind. If you would live forever, would you hurry? I doubt it.

This situation is common not only among young adults, but also in most of the people who have slipped into the comfort zone of their lives, regardless of age.

I don’t think a 90-year old or someone with a life-threatening illness would delay any action. For them, every second matters, everything needs to be done right now; no one can tell them whether they will live another week or day or hour. They face the cold hard fact that the time we all spend on this earth is unpredictable and out of our close control.

The benefit of health issues: they rock one’s world

A health issue has the power to change one’s life in a more positive way than almost any other event. Why? Because rocking one’s world makes the already open windows of opportunity appear more obvious and urgent.

Health issues put one’s life in a new perspective, making it easier to be motivated into taking action – any action. And things get even better after the health issues get solved, as people become happier, more grateful and more helpful towards others.

Health issues make people realize that time is not unlimited and nobody knows what is left of a life. This makes it critical to get clear on who they are and what they deliver to the world.

Slipping into the comfort zone of living is easy, pleasant and undetectable; getting out of it is difficult and often requires rather brutal shakeups in the form of health issues or other similar events that are generally perceived as being “unpleasant”.

So, the next time you have a health issue, try and be thankful for it; see it as an experience that has the power to bring out what’s best in you and open your eyes to new perspectives.

Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn. - C.S. Lewis