When spring approaches one of the tell tale signs is the start of thunder and lightning storms. When lightning becomes an issue there are lots of stories about how to stay safe under these harrowing circumstances. Every so often there’s a story about someone struck by lightning who survives; that’s a miracle! If you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness you’ve been struck by lightning. How did you handle the jolt?
When the doctor calls and wants to see you in their office the skies start to rumble. By the time you get to their office the emotional skies are gray and the thunder is rumbling and then it happens; the doctor gives you the news and you’re hit by a lightning bolt.
The news disrupts all natural function in your brain and for a moment you feel fried. One of the key factors to dealing with lightning is to make sure your body is grounded so the jolt passes through you and although frightening, once the initial shock is over the real work begins. The real work is health and healing. Keeping yourself as mindful of your physical, emotional and spiritual health as possible allows you to maintain internal and external balance.
What has happened to you since the jolt? People diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness often reveal that the diagnosis was the largest reality check they’ve ever experienced. It gets you to begin asking questions that don’t focus on what you do, but who you are. You begin to ask yourself about the road signs you missed along the road of life you’ve been living up until the point of diagnosis.
Perhaps you’re one of those who are jolted into consciousness and throw caution to the wind abandoning their current life for the life they’ve always wanted. The only person you become accountable to is you and that’s the freedom being jolted offers. It’s this jolt, their diagnosis that gets many to live life beyond a state of complacency. It’s too bad that anyone is ever diagnosed with a chronic or life-threatening illness, but you get to define how the jolt impacts your life. What will you do with your jolt?