Adversity

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I was reading a book the other day about a man who was visited by Gabriel, the Archangel. In the book, Gabriel stated that what he misses most about not being human is that he cannot feel sorrow. He said that without adversity (sorrow) that there is no growth.

We learn by experiencing opposites of something. For example, if we were totally happy, healthy, and content with the way things were, we most probably wouldn't care about growth; we'd be too busy enjoying ourselves.
I started thinking about the types of adversity that we as humans must endure. We have pain attached to losing people we love, relationships, money, illness, depression and general feelings of unfulfillment.

We, as FMS patients, have an abundance of adversity; not only do we have this illness to deal with, but many of us also get many other problems because of the illness.
So what am I getting at? I think that maybe we need to look at this illness as a wonderful chance to grow. Maybe we ignored many other signs over the years telling us to slow down and look at life, and when we didn't, we were given the ultimate STOP sign (FMS).

Now we have the time to look inside to see who we really are, to learn how to truly feel compassion for others' pain, have an open mind to new and different beliefs, to learn how to stand up for ourselves and not be bullied, to listen in a way that we didn't begin to understand before this illness. Maybe because of our illness some of you will learn to cure illnesses or lend support that someone who hasn't lived it couldn't possibly do.

We have been given a chance to search our innermost being for truths about ourselves. Maybe when we do look deep down and see the truth of our being, we will begin to heal. Maybe, just maybe, we are the blessed ones for we have been given a chance to experience a tremendous amount of adversity, and therefore, a tremendous amount of growth.

I am going to bless this dis-ease from now on and thank the Universe for making me slow down and become a conscious human being. Now I am someone who cares about other people more than making money or having a big home, etc. I am grateful that I have been given the opportunity to strip away the Liz that society created, and to become to Liz that FMS created. I am a much better person for it, and hope to continue growing.

Will I stop growing if my FMS goes away? Good question; what do you think?

Blessings,
Liz