Chronic illness-it's not personal

It’s not personal. The universe, God, karma, and the cosmos did not single you out to suffer. You are not being punished for being less than perfect. You do not “deserve” your disease. Personalization is self-blame. You are not a bad person. Even if you did not attend to your health as well as you might have, your disease is not divine retribution. People get sick. Even meditating, vegan yogi jogging gym rats get sick.

We have a hard time wrapping our heads around the “why” of chronic illness. We keep looking for the “why” as a way to make sense out of what has happened to us. Why me? Somebody or something must be to blame. According to the Centers for Disease Control half of all adults have a chronic illness or condition. One in four adults have more than one chronic condition. You have not been singled out. Illness is not a moral judgement unless you make it so.

When we personalize our condition, we feel like powerless victims. We have no hope. Our self-esteem is in the toilet. We are immobilized. Personalization blocks recovery, even partial recovery. When we let go of personalization, we are empowered. We choose to take steps, no matter how small, to improve the quality of our life.