Isolating our selves is easy. We have a hard time keeping up with the “healthies.” We don’t feel like we fit in their world anymore. Being with them is like observing people through a window. We see what’s going on, but we are on the outside looking in. We can’t connect. “Hey, it’s me, I’m out here and I’m miserable, don’t you notice?” We don’t want to talk about our disease and we don’t know how NOT to talk about it. We used to have things to talk about when we were out there in the land of the healthies. Now all we bring to the conversation is our aches and pains, lab tests and meds.
Rather than face the ordeal, we isolate ourselves. And without the regular daily give-and-take of interaction with others we draw more deeply into ourselves. We have time to think, indeed too much time to think. We make mountains out of mole hills. We become suspicious of others. What are they thinking and saying about us? We become depressed. Nobody cares. We nurse resentments. We become anxious about every little thing. In isolation we can have our own pity party without anyone else there to provide a reality check. The longer we stay in this place, the longer we want to stay there. And the longer we stay there, the less people will want to be around us.
What to do? First, be aware of ways you isolate yourself. Second, make a goal of reaching out to just one person each day and of having a conversation about something other than your illness. Call someone and chat for just five minutes. Ask how THEY are feeling. Really listen to the other person. You have to power to go up or down. May you choose up!
No comments:
Post a Comment