1. You already have all the stay at home lounge wear
- yoga pants check
- slippers check
- Pajamas check
- mens basketball shorts check
- comfy socks check
- bra thrown away a long time ago
2. You know how to stay home, feel lonely, and not go crazy
As much as you would prefer to be healthy and out and about, you’ve learned to be comfortable in staying home. You know to look for the small things that bring you joy, and not focus on the worst case scenario.
3. Half your friends are online anyway
Since you’re used to being stuck in bed you spend half your life online. Between twitter, facebook, and chronic illness groups you have a bunch of friends who can support you and be supported by you right from your bedroom. You don’t have to see people face to face to feel fulfilled.
4. You already have the take out menus from your favorite restaurants
No need to consult the internet, you’ve been ordering take out for years and you already know all the best places.
5. You know how to live with uncertainty
When you have a chronic illness nothing ever stays the same. Some days you feel better and some days you feel worse, that’s just the way it goes. With a chronic illness you have to learn to be okay with uncertainty, otherwise you’ll be very unhappy. You just learn to enjoy the good moments, and take the bad moments as they come.
6. You buy everything online anyway
Going to the store takes so much energy, you long ago learned how and where to buy everything online. You and Amazon prime became friends a long long time ago. You never had to worry about toilet paper (aff link), because you already get it on subscribe and save every month.
7. You’re a pro at dealing with boredom and stress at the same time
You’ve already explored yoga, meditation, adult coloring (aff link) etc. so you know what to do when you feel bored and stressed. Those are such unique emotions to have together so many people don’t know what to do.
8. You’re not delusional about the odds of getting sick
You’ve been let down by the odds before. Maybe you were young when you got sick, or were diagnosed with a super rare disease, but you’ve had bad things happen to you before. That’s why you know to take Covid 19 seriously. You know that not only could you face death, you could also face long term disability, and you know how the medical system handles that (spoiler alert, not well).
This post is somewhat tongue and cheek, but healthy people can really learn something from people with chronic illness and disabilities. The hope is as healthy people are allowed back into the world they won’t forget their quarantine experience and how hard it was. Now many people know exactly what being stuck at home is like, and hopefully they’ll have more empathy for those with chronic illness.
How do you feel chronic illness prepared you for life in quarantine?
