I love my body! I came to this conclusion again after I was down with acute gastroenteritis two weeks ago. I had to be in bed the whole day and I also experienced fever and chills. I had a difficult time accepting my predicament because first, I seldom get really sick so I don’t know how to play the role of a sick person and second, I’m scheduled to take the first flight to Manila the following day for my much awaited break. Missing my flight was inconceivable.
As I lay on my bed trying to analyze which nutrient my GIT is not able to absorb, I also started asking why this had to happen to me. Soon, it seems that my body started to answer me: “Well, you were not careful. You were not feeling well yesterday yet you didn’t slow down. Worse, you ate a lot during supper. I was telling you to stop but you insisted on finishing the oysters on the table…”
Considerations:
Often times, illness comes because we have not been listening to our body. Even if there’s pain, even if there’s a lump, even if the weighing scale registers an alarming reading, we remain bull headed and we continue with our unhealthy routines. It’s time to listen to our body and show that we also love it.
If ever illness comes, we should welcome it because we can in fact get something good out of our illness. Illness can tell a truth about us – we can get to know our self deeper. We get to realize that we do have limitations. Before my AGE, I never thought my GIT cannot handle a combination of oysters, ginataang tambo (bamboo shoots with coconut milk and corn and okra), chicken inasal (grilled) with sinamak and white chocolate cheesecake. Now, I can here Pacman’s favourite line: “Now, you know.”
Illness is not only bearable but in a way, it is also a completion of a person especially when fully undergone for a purpose. Illness has a place in our life because it gives us time to reflect.
We have to be warned, though, that something in illness is innately introspective. Thus, to be sick is dangerously self-centering. We need to remember that this body can possess us, especially when it is ill. We can be at our worst behaviour. We can also fall into self-pity and depression. Before these negative things happen, we have to keep in mind that illness is not a circumstance, a situation nor a determination of who we are. When we think we are sick, let us try to go out of ourself, think of the others and rise above self-centering. Then, we will see that it can also be a fulfilment of our lives.
