Is there anything GOOD about Chronic Illness?

Spoiler: Yes, I did finally find something good, cool, and fun that has happened to me due to having Fibro.

I have been asked, "Is there anything good that came out of you having Fibromyalgia?"

(Usually, I hate this question, because most people use it as a 'trap'. If you find anything good, then they will follow up with 1) "See! You get good things from being sick so you don't want to get well!" or 2) "You needed to get FMS to make you a better person," - both of which are BS jerky answers.)

Usually my answer is Hell No! Anything positive that came about 'because' of the illness could have happened without getting sick.

I don't believe in the paradigm that people need pain or punishment in order to beat them into spiritual lessons.

Some people say that their chronic illness "made" them become more understanding of others, more patient with themselves, more spirtual. My reply is that the illness didn't "make" them, but that faced with the illness they made a choice to be a better person. Faced with a chronic illness, a person go either way. They can become more understanding of others, or they can become more narcissistic and think that their illness is the only pain that matters. The choice is the person's, and if they made a good choice, they should get the credit for their behavior, rather than crediting the illness, which is neutral.

But I have finally found something that is really wonderful, which happened only because I have Fibro.

I have met amazing, cool, creative, fun people ONLY because I met them in a Fibro support group or we reached out to each other because we both have a chronic illness. I have close friends that I cherish, whom I would never have met unless we were on the same bulletin board or attending the same group. I keep meeting more people who write to me because of my blog or on Myspace, because of chronic illness, and I look forward to meeting more, because THEY ROCK!

Yeah we initially connected because of Fibromyalgia, but I discover the fellow patient's wonderfully quirky sense of humor, their creative and artistic side, their compassion, their style, their wisdom, and I'm really glad I met this person.

I believe that if there were a miracle cure for Fibro tomorrow, we would all stay great friends. But we never would have met without Fibro.

Thank you all for being your amazing selves!

Oh yeah, and Fibro still sucks.