Which are you? In dealing with your chronic illness would you say that you are a whiner or a fighter? Even though I have suffered with chronic illness myself for almost 20 years, I am not very patient or understanding with people who want to whine and complain about their illness all of the time. I do know from personal experience that when you first become ill, it is a huge adjustment and you do tend to talk about what you are going through more because it is a life-altering experience.
But after someone has been sick for several years, and they are still whining and complaining as if they were just diagnosed yesterday, I have no patience for that. I have had a lot of people call me and depend on me for support over the years in dealing with chronic illnesses.
I can always tell when someone really doesn’t want help and they just want to complain. Typically if someone wants help or wants to know how to deal with their illness (a fighter), they don’t make excuses to not try. They are at least willing to give certain treatments, certain exercises, and make adjustments so that they can still have a productive life. Those that are whiners, just want to do exactly that – whine. They want everyone to do everything for them and they are not willing to give any suggestions a try.
For example, I have been asked before about cooking and how do I manage to cook when I feel so bad a lot of the time. My solution? I use a crock-pot a lot. It’s easy, it’s simple and it takes very little energy to throw something in a crock-pot.
How do I clean my house? One or two rooms a day – never all in one day. But some people with chronic illness will complain to me and use the excuse that they can’t do just one or two rooms at a time. They HAVE to do the whole house the same day.
Doesn’t it hurt when you carry laundry, carry bags of groceries, etc.? Yes, it hurts. But our bodies will hurt worse if we just lie around and feel sorry for ourselves.
I honestly have gotten to where I try to avoid people like this because they can really wear you down. If you are chronically ill, you don’t need one more thing to wear you out.
Be a fighter not a whiner and know that you can still live!
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