The Gifts from Being Sick

Life Lessons from Being Sick: How Illness Can Inspire Growth, Healing, and Self-Discovery

It doesn’t feel good to be sick, but there are sure a lot of lessons you can learn from it if you choose to activate your values of Curiosity, Learning and Growth.

I experienced that last week after being sick for the first time in years. I have only been sick three times in the past 10 years and never caught the VID.

Being healthy is something I pride myself on. I live a very healthy life and take care of myself because, as I have mentioned before, the last place I want to be in this world is a hospital.

So when I get sick, it’s a big hit to my ego because my ego says I never get sick and if I do, I must be some kind of failure or that I am doing something wrong.

However, after feeling under the weather for a couple of days last week, I started to realize that there are a lot of gifts and lessons that being sick can give you if you are open to receiving them.

And let me be clear, when you are feeling terrible, it is not always easy to think positively or have a growth mindset about the experience. That is okay.

Much of the wisdom comes afterward, when you have time to reflect and you start feeling like yourself again.

So here is some of the wisdom I gained from being sick that can help you next time you are not feeling well.

✈️ When you fly and travel, it is easy to get sick. Every time I have gotten sick recently, it has been after flying. Flying is not good for your health, but sometimes you’ve got to do it. When you fly, you are surrounded by lots of people, exposed to radiation, chemicals, and toxins. It is a stressful environment, and stress leads to inflammation, which leads to illness. Also, when you travel, you tend to get knocked out of your typical routines, from how you sleep to how you eat and how you move. That is what happened to me. (Plus, we had lots of delays, got stuck on the tarmac for 2 hours, and missed our layover)

Lesson 1: Make travel as stress-free as possible.

Prioritize flights that offer the most comfort.
Eat foods that you know will make you feel good. (With a few treats along the way).
Choose exercises and movements that help you relax and release energy.
Connect with nature each day.
Invest time in yourself.
Activate your values.

❤️‍? Being sick helps you surrender to healing. If you are a doer like me, it can be tough to slow down. Running our business, taking care of our horses, living on a ranch, and having an active lifestyle require a lot of energy. But when you have your energy sucked out of you, all you can do is surrender. Because the more you fight it, the worse you will feel and the longer you will stay sick. This can be especially tough if you have a long list of to-dos that you want to do. However, I had to trust that everything would be okay and that the timelines I had in my head for completing specific tasks would work out.

Lesson 2: Prioritize rest and recovery, take care of yourself first, so you can then take care of everything else.

Ask for help when you need support.
Trust that everything is going to work out exactly when it’s meant to.
Listen to your body and prioritize rest when you need it.
Take as much time as you need to get things done so you don’t overdo it.

? Being sick brings up a lot of your limiting beliefs. You know those stories you tell yourself, like, you’re not good enough, you are a failure, nothing ever works out for you? Those. The ones your victim mindset likes to latch onto. And when you are sick, it’s easier to beat yourself up even more. And if you are like me, you might even beat yourself up for being sick.

Lesson 3: When you are sick, forgive yourself, take care of yourself, and tell yourself a story that is going to serve you. (Which MaryBeth can help teach you here).

Acknowledge that being sick is a gift to help you slow down, reflect and grow.
Understand that being sick is your body trying to tell you something.
Realize that being sick is a part of being human.
Know that you can release limiting beliefs by using MaryBeth’s framework. Notice. Forgive Yourself. Choose Again.

Being sick is not fun; however, I trust it’s part of the universe’s way to get you to slow down and reflect on what truly matters in your life.

So next time you find yourself sick, get a little curious about what messages it is trying to tell you and remember to take care of yourself.

One of the best things I did to heal myself and feel better when I was sick was to use the Body Code. The Body Code is an energy balancing system designed to help you uncover the root causes of discomfort, sickness, and suffering in both body and spirit, thereby supporting your healing.

I am in my final stages of being a Certified Body Code Practitioner, and when I did a session on myself, I went from feeling like my symptoms were at a 10 (most extreme) down to a 5. And I know it helped me heal faster. If you’re interested in setting up a session with me, I’m currently offering discounted sessions to help me complete my training. For $74, you’ll get three Body Code Sessions with me, which is a 50% discount.