Recently, I suddenly found myself thinking, “I’ve really learned so much from being sick.”
Of course, I’ve learned a lot about food and health, but also about clothing, food, and shelter, relationships with others, and even how I want to live my life.
I’ve gained so many insights through my illness.
When I first became sick at the age of 24, I spent quite a while desperately trying to get better.
Whenever I found a treatment that seemed promising, I would jump right into it. But if I didn’t see any visible results quickly, I would give up and move on to the next thing.
I went from one hospital to another, tried all kinds of treatments, and was constantly going through emotional ups and downs depending on how I was feeling.
Sometimes I would get angry and think, “Why am I not getting better when I’m trying this hard!?” and even blame my own body.
Looking back now, I think, “No wonder I wasn’t getting better with that attitude.”
But at the time, I was desperate. There was no way I could see things that clearly.
I was simply obsessed with trying to cure my illness.
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When I was 33, I discovered natural healing.
Before that, I had also studied traditional Eastern approaches to health, such as Kampo and medicinal cuisine, and incorporated some of them into my daily life. However, my understanding remained rather fragmented.
When I took a leave of absence from work, I began seriously studying natural healing.
I became completely absorbed in it. I read book after book, took correspondence courses, attended classes and lectures, and went to cooking workshops.
As I gained knowledge and put what I learned into practice, I came to understand the importance of learning through hands-on experience—using my own hands and body rather than simply learning things intellectually.
I also met many different people, and as I listened to their stories and learned about their illnesses and lives, my perspective on illness gradually began to change.
“Illness is not something to simply cure. It is something to learn from.”
Over time, I feel that I have gradually come to understand what those words really mean.
Through illness, I began to reflect on the way I had been living my life.
I became aware of the importance of things that cannot be seen—such as the way I think and the way I approach life—as well as my daily habits.
Everything can become nourishment for our growth as human beings.
It took a long time to reach this point, and there were many times when I couldn’t possibly think about my illness that way.
But recently, I feel that I’ve finally become able to look beyond my illness and ask myself a bigger question:
“How do I want to live my life?”
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My illness gave me an opportunity to reconsider my way of living—my daily habits, the way I think, and the way I approach my own feelings and emotions.
And as I began seriously facing my own life, I gradually found myself spending more and more time forgetting about my illness.
Strangely enough, when I stop focusing on my symptoms, they seem to become less noticeable.
When I was constantly trying to “cure” myself, I kept focusing my attention on my symptoms, and it felt as though my illness would never leave me alone.
That said, when you are right in the middle of an illness and dealing with unpleasant symptoms, it is certainly not easy to simply forget about them.
Sometimes I felt completely overwhelmed and swallowed up by my illness.
Even so, discovering the perspective that “illness is not something to simply cure, but something to learn from” clearly changed the way I saw the world.
If you are going through a difficult time right now and feel that there is no way you could think about your illness in this way, I still want to tell you:
There will always be a way forward. You will be okay.
Thank you so much for reading to the end. 😊
The temperature can change dramatically from day to day during this season, so please take good care of yourself. 🍀