I saw a quote the other day that said “There is no right way to live with a chronic illness,” and I immediately knew I needed to talk about it. Honestly, I want to get it tattooed on my forehead and shout it from the rooftops because everyone needs to hear it.
“Oh, you have a chronic illness and you eat that?”
“Oh, you have a chronic illness and you drink that?”
“Oh, you have a chronic illness and that’s how you workout?”
The answer to these questions?
There. Is. No. Right. Way. To. Live. With. A. Chronic. Illness.
There is no one right way to live. Period.
Unfortunately, yet realistically, there can be judgement within the chronic illness community at times. The same can be said for life in general.
And here’s what I have to say: IBD, and everything in life, is so incredibly individualized. What works for one person might not work for another. What works for me may not work for you. What works for you may not work for your neighbor Susan or your cousin Jack and vice versa.
Nobody should ever be shamed or put down or made to feel inferior or less than because of the decisions that they make in doing what’s best for THEM.
To think that there is one set way to live, one set way to eat, one set way to move your body, one set medication to take or not to take is to ignore an entire world that exists outside of your own.
When you really think about it, how cool is that life exists in so many different forms? How fascinating is it that I experienced this day differently than you? How awesome is it that we can find common threads that weave us together while still being uniquely ourselves?
So, the next time someone hits you with, “Oh, you have *insert condition here* and you do *x,y, and z*? I could never.”
Tell them how happy you are that they have found what works for them, how happy you are to have found what works for you, and how beautiful it is to simply be human.