October 25, 2008

In Part 1 of Nasty Virus, I talked about how I knew there were lessons to be learned from this experience, and some of them are clear to me.

• Be ready to be diverted. Clearly, we should live with goals and plans, rather than aimlessly drifting through life.  But we have to realize that God may detour us.  It could be a temporary derailment, or it could be a permanent redirection.  I had lots of plans for the last few weeks, but I went off on this little detour for a reason and I have to pay attention to it.  If I don't get anything out of it, then it was just a wasted few weeks of illness and recuperation and not a learning experience.
• You have to let people help you. I'm pretty independent, but the main reason I don't like for people to help me is I feel it's inconvenient or an imposition, not that I'm too proud to accept help from people.  I had to have some help during this illness, and I realized it wasn't right to block people from blessing me.  So thank you to the people who drove me here and there, who brought me groceries, who brought me things from home, who took care of my cats, who sent me flowers, who visited me and kept me company.  You were a blessing!
• I can do a better job of taking care of myself. I usually live pretty healthfully: I eat well with no meat at all, I don't consume caffeine, I don't smoke, I drink a ton of water, I take the supplements that I think are important, I exercise regularly, and I try to get adequate sleep.  I have a strong immune system and I'm generally strong.  But I can do better, and I'm inspired to do so.  There are those nights when I have a handful of almonds for dinner (single people: you know you do this too).  Or even worse, how about cheese and crackers or cheetos for a meal?  I have my salty snack weakness and when I'm stressed or tired it takes over.  I want to eat more intentionally, wash my hands even more, faithfully use the germ wipes on grocery carts, and do more yoga to handle stress better.  Doing these things won't prevent an illness like this from happening again…I know I'm not bulletproof.  But I want to do better.  If I hadn't been strong and healthy going into this illness, it would have taken a greater toll on my health than it did.  Out of gratitude for that blessing, I want to take even better care of myself.
• God is in control. This isn't something I just learned, but it's a reminder that I can always benefit from.  I was reminded that I can be put into a frightening situation that has an unknown outcome, and God will bring me through it with peace.  I had never been in the hospital until this, and had never been seriously ill.  Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, I wasn't freaking out.  And I know it was and is because the peace of God was with me, and He is in control.

There will probably be more lessons to learn from the Nasty Virus experience, but these are the ones I see already.  In Part 3 of Nasty Virus, I'll talk about the challenges of getting back to exercise.

~BigSis