"You look well." Those three words were once the most annoying thing anyone could ever say to me. Whenever someone said that to me, my hackles would rise and I would become defensive.
Of course the person who said it usually did not mean anything malicious by it, but I would take it as an insult. How could I possibly look well when I constantly felt so sick and exhausted? I felt as though my suffering was being denied and that angered me.
I started to wonder if I really did look as well as people said I did. Even when I am considerably unwell my cheeks are always rosey. Why? Then one day I realised that people probably weren't seeing my illness. Even when I felt that my body was consumed with exhaustion and sickness people weren't seeing it.
What they were seeing was the strength of my spirit. They could see my spirit fighting my illness. The fact that I looked well meant that my spirit was winning. Even though my body was full of exhaustion, my spirit was not.
From that day I started to feel more hope. I know that I will eventually be well again. Now whenever someone says to me, "You look well", I say, "Thankyou", and smile to myself because I know that no matter how ill I feel my spirit is still fighting strong.
