Keeping Things in Perspective

I don’t want this to be the ‘at least you don’t have Cancer!’ article. I don’t want to downplay the significance, the pain and the disruption of IBS at all. I think I just want to talk about the importance of keeping things in perspective when you are feeling overwhelmed with IBS and the many troubles it brings. We become addicted to the subject because we are afraid. We are worried that it will strike again today. We are anxious about the severity of our symptoms. After experiencing long bouts with IBS, we may think that we cannot make it, or more specifically, that our bodies may not be able to make it. This can be called catastrophizing. Catastrophizing and rumination are drugs that we can’t seem to kick. We become addicted to thoughts, perceptions and what we believe will happen in the future. It is a difficult thing to beat this addiction. It can only be done by thinking about what is going on around you and not inside you. If you are going to look inward, look to your heart and soul and perhaps, not so much, the mind.

This is interconnectedness

When we become overwhelmed living with IBS, we can have a tendency to shut everything and everyone out. We become a single damaged vessel, traveling all alone. Or, so it seems at the time. If we can try to quiet the mind and bring our attention to what is going on all around us, we will see that we are part of a greater whole. When we feel connected to the world around us we feel less alone and are also likely to see that we are not the only people who are suffering. Suffering is a part of life, whether it be from disease, the death of a loved one, financial woes, mental illness, politics, war, famine…on and on…and on. Why is our world this way? Why do we feel this why? Why does IBS control my life? When I decide to convey feelings like this in an article, it is because it's actually how I am feeling at a particular moment in time. I believe I want to share because there is a good chance that if I feel this way, someone else does, too. This is interconnectedness. We are not alone.

Walking side by side

As I’ve mentioned before, I work with people who suffer with mental illness. Through my work, I see so much suffering. Because I obviously cannot turn my IBS off to go to work, many days I am working with suffering, while I am suffering myself. Shoulda’ called this article ‘Suffering’. The point is, during these moments when I don’t feel good and my client doesn’t feel good, I have begun to see us as walking side by side. They want to feel better…I want to feel better. EVERYONE WANTS TO FEEL BETTER, in one way or the other. Thank you for ‘suffering’ through my little philosophical discourse. Please remember to look to the world for love, inspiration and knowledge. Please remember to look inwards for that special spark that makes you who you truly are. Who are you and how do you fit into this world?