Being Healthy is a Gift

by Samantha Stacey

Being healthy is a gift. If you have never been seriously ill, you may not fully understand the sentiment of that statement. Sure, being thankful for our health is a generic statement we all say, but have you really considered the weight behind those words?? If you are healthy that means you can get up in the morning, get dressed, and go where you please without help. You can stand up and make food without depending on others. You can eat food! You can take a deep breath and not have to worry about it hurting or not being able to. You can spend your days in your house, not stuck in the hospital. You can walk and run and jump without pain. You don’t have to worry about catching other illnesses more easily. You don’t have to worry about going places or your blood counts. If you have never had those things taken from you, it may be hard to truly be thankful for them. I am telling you from my own experience, every breath and step you take is something to be grateful for. If someone had told me there was a way to prevent what I went through, I would have done it in a heartbeat. No questions asked. Losing your health and dealing with the trauma of it is not worth it, I promise. I know what it is like to feel so miserable you wish you could just knock yourself out for days. I know what it is like to go days without food and to have to depend on others for everything. I understand the fear and anxiety of not knowing what the next day will bring. I have done this whole quarantine thing before under much, much worse circumstances (granted everyone’s circumstances look different now). I have had my world changed overnight. I lost my normal and had so much taken from me. I completely understand longing for normalcy. These last few months have been incredibly hard on everyone for so many reasons. No denying that. However, if your health is not something you are especially worried about during this time, you are incredibly blessed. If you are healthy enough to be angry at what is being asked of you, and to get to pick and choose what you believe, you are incredibly blessed. There are so many people who want nothing more than to be healthy (I was one of them once). Just because it isn’t you today, doesn’t mean it won’t be you tomorrow. Your health can be taken from you with no warning. Don’t wait for that to happen to recognize how big of a gift being healthy is. I promise you; you don’t want to lose it and that you would do anything to make sure you don’t