4 Life Lessons We Learn from Being Sick

Nobody wants to get sick. Aside from the pain that you have to endure, it limits what you can do, causes anxiety, changes your plans, puts your life on hold, suspends your regular flow of everyday routine or worse: cut your life short. No one is immune from getting sick, even the healthiest person out there.

Nonetheless, some of the most valuable lessons in life are learned from experiencing illness. When you are sick, it makes you reevaluate how you live your life, your habits, your values and your beliefs. Being sick has a sense of revelatory power.

Here are 4 valuable life lessons that we learn from being sick:

1. Empathy.

Being sick, especially with a chronic condition, may make you feel like you have little to no control over your life. It takes a lot of emotional strength and resilience to deal with something like this. Having Hashimoto’s disease made me feel more empathy toward those who are suffering from health issues. I understand even more how important it is to show compassion to people who are sick or anyone who is struggling.

It’s easier to feel something when you’ve been there or you’re going through a hard time yourself.