"I'm sorry, but I just can't listen to him complain about having a cold while I have a tube up my nose"
I've been called a terrible person a few times. I understand why. It's probably my lack of affection for infants and children, my ability to see humour in the darkest of situations and my dirty mind. I swear these are just some of my personality quirks, I'm not actually a terrible person, people just jump to conclusions when they hear you don't like babies.
However, there is something about having a chronic illness that makes me question my ability for sympathy for when healthy people get sick. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, but I find it so hard to feel bad for someone who complains endlessly about a light cough or sore throat. I find it borderline enraging when someone proclaims they can't get out of bed when they have a headache.
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| Sorry about the rough language. |
I don't understand why they can't push through it. Or why they choose to complain to me about it. I take more medication in a day than they will take the entire course of their cold. I have higher levels of fatigue on a daily basis than they do when they've pulled an all-nighter writing a paper and have a headache. I have more pain than them from bowel movements I have 9 times a day than what they feel when they finish a workout.
The thing is, I want to be sympathetic. I really do. I just have a really hard time with it. When you have a chronic illness, you learn how to be sick. You learn how to do every day things despite your pain, your fatigue, and the limitations of your illness. You can't take days off because you feel sick. If you did, you'd never work or go to school or have meaningful relationships or hobbies. It kind of sucks that we have to do this, but honestly, it's better than being completely incapacitated and unable to participate in life.
I know viruses suck. I do. I know workouts hurt. I know you can injure yourself lifting things. I know laryngitis is horribly inconvenient. But I actively have to restrain myself from saying "Suck it up, I go through worse than you", good thing I have at least that much self control.
I'm sorry to all the people I haven't been sympathetic to. It's not you, it's me.
