Health is not valued until sickness comes

Sadly my attempt to post daily has not had much success so far. Blame the old trigeminal nerve pains in my face and/or occipital pains behind my eyes. That said, I continue reading because the book I’m in love with right now is regarding psychology, good old Dr. Sigmund Freud and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It’s hard to put the book down but at times I need to be mindful of the aches and pains so they don’t get any worse. And that means that I am not blogging as much as I want to.

Like Albert Schweitzer once said: “Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.” I am also because life is bigger than my neurological illness, and life will always be much more interesting than having multiple sclerosis.

My fingers are itching to write a longer blog post, yet my eyes are not quite happy about staring at a laptop screen for too long. However, that itch is always there and like my dad used to say: “You’re itchy yet your arms are too short to scratch.” He had a way with words and I miss hearing him use his eloquent vocabulary to make people laugh.

But yes, sometimes my “arms” are too short to make the itch go away, or rather, my body makes me decide negatively on things I want to do but can’t (for now) because of neurological pains. But whatever the pains, fatigue and inability to work, I am alive, and I want to live and be free more than anything.

In that regard I came across the Epicurus maxim “Where I am, death is not. Where death is, I am not.” (When we exist death is not, and when death exists we are not). If I were to cite a poem about what drives me, or what I’m like or who I am, I would more than likely choose Schweitzer’s and Epicurus’ poems. Or like George Bernard Shaw once said: “I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worthwhile.”

It is worthwhile. Absolutely.


© Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2012. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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