Affliction Addiction
When we are of ill health, it is sometimes our own faults, but most often it is not. The random force that is nature rolls the dice for us every day, and though we usually turn out healthy, every now and then we roll snake eyes. It only takes a few attacks on our system or internal failures to knock us out.
Science and medicine have progress extremely rapidly in the last century to help us deal with our afflictions and in turn our sorrows. Nonetheless, everyone from all walks of life all over the planet is dealt at some point in time or another with an illness of sorts that cannot be fought. Sometimes it is short term and merely discomforting, and simply needs to be waited out. Sometimes it is a condition that we must learn to live and deal with for the rest of our lives, affecting our lifestyle and our capabilities. Sometimes it is so severe, that it completely incapacitates us from our lives, distancing us from the world and the people we love, and potentially removing us from it.
Dealing with affliction is one of the most difficult things in the world, both for the afflicted and those who surround them. It is a tug of war often between hopeful and hopelessness. It is an absolute sense of frustration that no matter how strong our willpower is to fight, we cannot physically change the situation. Feelings of guilt, that the afflicted is a burden to those around them. A permanent fear is often involved as well, not knowing how the affliction may affect them in the long run. Worse is the fear that once recovered from the affliction, it may resurface again at any time, more ravaging than before.
No matter how strong our willpower, it would be inhuman not to feel these things. It would be inhuman to not ponder all of our feelings and experiences in the matter and attempt to comprehend it somehow. Everyone has to find their own reasoning and judgement on their situation. As cliche as it might sound, affliction is an experience that affects our greater experience in life. It raises inquiries into faith and philosophy, questioning why we are here, why we are afflicted, and the purpose of our lives and of life itself. It moulds our actions, our principles, and our beliefs. It challenges us in a way that is impossible to be ignorant to.
I wish everyone the presence of mind and strength of character to battle the challenge when it comes to them.
Vinco vici victum vita,
-Jon
P.S. I bet you didn't actually read all of that!