Written and posted by Jackie Olmstead, January 26, 2022 – Isn’t that what you want? To heal faster and get “over” what you have been sick from? OR ponder this: Is it actually normal for you to be sick? Is it comfortable because it’s what you know. You know what to do when you get sick. And hey, you get extra love and attention when you’re sick or injured. What if you never had to be sick again? Or what if you at least can be fully present with your full body and soul while you are sick to allow whatever your body is teaching you to come through… and then get better much faster? What if there’s an underlying REASON why you got injured or got sick in the first place?
I got into an argument actually with my best friend once about this very topic years ago. She didn’t see how I saw things at all. In fact, she believed that it was fate, that it just happens and has nothing to do with your life circumstances or past. She was in a horrible car accident that year, unfortunately. She said it was the “other person’s fault” and it had nothing to do with anything going on in her own life. Some people believe this and I understand. I think that unless we had someone around us question why things happen in our lives and do some digging and deep soul searching we might never even consider it a possibility that it’s more than just fate. Nevertheless, we agreed to disagree.
My role in this lifetime is to really dig and attempt to figure things out. Why? Personally, I got really really sick and tired of being really sick. If you haven’t already read my journey, click here and see what I have overcome (that’s the short version).
I think most people believe what the doctors tell them about why they have gotten sick, injured or otherwise being out of commission. Do you? Or do you know deep inside that there is more to it…. Much more. And you really want to understand why some people would get one thing or another and you don’t get sick from that. But you get sick from something else? Or you break or injure a part of your body but others don’t?
I get you. I understand totally.
This also 100% relates to why you’re in every single relationship in your life, whether you can see that now or later. It’s an amazing way to grow just a little bit more in your life when you can see how being with people in your past could have or did bring you to a wonderful understanding of yourself.
And when I say “wonderful,” it still might be really painful, but imagine if you didn’t have to go through that same pain again because this time you “got it”? The people who are still with you have the potential to really show you what you need as a human being. You could also decide to separate or never see them again, growing from that too.
I’m sure you’ve heard this stuff before. “Walk through the pain and freedom is on the other side.” Oh and “do your dark shadow work and you’ll learn to love all parts of yourself.” What about, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” But have you known that sometimes the fear alone of thinking about change, of getting better… in itself can be fearful too. They talk about how success can be scary too, right?
“Real change happens bit by bit. It takes great effort to become effortless at anything. There are no quick fixes.”–Geneen Roth
Let’s focus on thinking about learning HOW or WHY you got sick. Only you will know your own answer. Only you can decipher what your body is really trying hard to tell you every single day. But having someone along your side to help you is golden and can really bring you to your breakthrough moments faster. Many methods of reaching your inner voices include writing down your dreams if you can when you first wake. Writing stream-of-consciousness in your journal. Simply writing daily in your journal. Talking with close friends about this process. Drawing, meditating, doing yoga and any other exercise… the list is endless really but you get the drift.
I digress. Why do we get sick or get injured? Our bodies and souls want us to stop. Listen. Pay attention. If we are lost in our third dimensional reality of worldly goings-on and work and other stuff, we will miss it. That is the golden moment, our chance.
A personal example of relationship health: I was so distraught after I realized that my marriage was broken. I left it in 2012. I was the one who took the dogs and my child with me. I was the one to make the horrendous decision to leave, to make the change. And then I couldn’t bear the circumstances of life I had now just created. My choices felt too painful. I didn’t know how to cope at all. The divorce alone was traumatic enough but then I inwardly wanted someone else to just “do it all for me,” and guess what? I found that someone who WOULD make all my decisions for me since I was wanting that in my soul (realized later). He was drawn to my inner wishes and feelings of lack (energetically, I understand this.).
And then my life turned into NONE of my preferred choices and the pain involved with that new relationship was almost worse than the marriage I left behind. I was able to see all this about a year after I left that relationship. It came to me one day while journaling and I felt a real deep connection to my pain during those times. I actually felt gratitude for the experience and massive compassion for myself. I learned so much about myself and how I operated under the pressure of making major life changes.
To be honest, I don’t regret these choices because where I am today is a culmination of all my choices and experiences as a result of those choices. I am a much more grown up woman now and can help others so much better learning these things.
Some people people will say (any of them resonate at all?):
“Oh I got sick because Mary came in the office that day and she was sneezing all over the place and I know it was her fault.”
“I got sick because I forgot to wear my hat on Thursday when it was really cold and rainy.” “I always get sick in November/March/whatever season, it’s just flu season, I can’t help it.”
“It’s in my genes. My family has cancer. My mom had it and so did her mom and sisters.” (that one is very controversial and I’m positive this will trigger many of you.)
“I had asthma when I was born. It’s in my genes/DNA, I can’t change that.”
I definitely agree that there are actual medical acute things that happen to us like getting vaccines that cause injuries, you are intimate with someone with some communicative disease or sickness, or other things like you step off the curb and a random vehicle hits you. But think about it… just like in the theories of the Law of Attraction, why do you think we would have somehow put ourselves in the position of receiving the sickness or jab or other undesirable event?
These are hard questions to ask ourselves because it makes us think that we could have another agenda when we are born into this world or as a child we knew what we were supposed to be exposed to…? Some people talk about having a plan when we come into the world, that our souls have things aligned before birth. That we have karmic debt. A whole other theory about why we get sick or injured. And also, the whole law of attraction topic is yet another blog topic and discussion.
Other items on the above list are all typical standard medical model theories and also many passed down beliefs that have endured for as long as we have written history and word-of-mouth from our families.
No matter what theory you might agree with, I’m here to tell you that not only can you observe your body beginning to retreat into the regular “getting sick” but you can also then reroute the path of your usual sickness. You can also observe what is currently going on (like asthma symptoms) and be present for yourself and observe it stopping! This is exactly my experience. I’m living proof that you can heal your asthma. (pencil photo: www.pixabay.com, Anke Sundermeier)
As I write about in my story, the emergency lifestyle change I had to make in 2015 triggered me to dig deep and research FOOD. This put my body in a much better healing space for all of my illnesses (hashimotos, asthma, irritable bowel, celiac disease…).
One of the big reasons I had my symptoms of asthma was a recurring feeling that I did not feel safe in this world often as an adult or even as a child (inner at this point.) When I read Louise Hay’s book about “You Can Heal Yourself” (https://amzn.to/3rNPLSm) I found the part about asthma on the chart that listed many health conditions. Most resonated with me and I used them as tools to help empower my own belief system to heal. I was working with a health coach/spiritual healer at the time. It was challenging and at times scary but I overcame my need for any inhalers. I realized at some point that the ones I had had all expired, in other words, I hadn’t refilled them in so long because I didn’t need them anymore. (Louise Hay affirmation from www.louisehay.com)
I continued to check in with the list of affirmations and emotions associated with pretty much any health condition that would come up for me. The affirmations are an amazing gateway into WHY we got sick in the first place. What resonates with you is what is your key to healing yourself. The why will come to you. Your body will tell you (it’s been tryin’ to tell you this whole time.) Hearing our bodies is key. Then reassuring the body and responding to what it needs to hear is next.
Accepting what comes up for you is one of the most compassionate parts of this healing process. And again, no matter what theory you support for the why’s, you can still put your body into a much greater space for healing and compassionate reversal of how you have operated all these years.
I love myself and all that I have gone through so that I can be here today to help those around me.
Namaste. Much love to you today.
Does this post help you? Did you find some good resources or do you need some more? Comment below or reach out to me via my contact page. Have a beautiful day, my friend!
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Image above is from www.pixabay.com, Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke)
Thank you Jackie for sharing your courageous story! This really helps frame the perimeters of how and why we get caught up in having or hosting an illness.
I know that on my own Journey of healing, facing my circumstances was the beginning of my understanding into how I was facilitating the environment for the malady. Paraphrasing Carl Jung, ‘when we choose to not face our shadow, we will think we are living a fateful life’. It’s ironic how we want to think we have free will and yet we allow circumstances to take us over.
Healing takes time and a lot of personal responsibility. It doesn’t mean we should discard medical advice but I believe when we look to others when we are in pain to solve the problem, we are looking in the wrong place. Everything happens insideout.
Thank you, my friend! There’s so much to it all. Defining exactly how we heal isn’t easy but if we take it in bits and pieces, one part at a time we can do anything!