Chronic pain conditions are a difficult burden to suffer from, apart from the constant pain, fatigue and other symptoms, you have the guilt of not being as sociable, likeable or energetic as your “previous” self and the judgement that brings from family, friends, acquaintances and strangers.
It’s especially hard to communicate your host of issues to strangers easily, when they can’t see your problems from the outside, they just see a tired or grimacing person, and many prejudge you as lazy or grumpy person.
Everyone has problems in the world, and suffering is widespread, you don’t know what people are going through when you briefly meet them, our brains are wired to form judgements very quickly.
This all adds up to make chronically ill people socially outcast. Your tendency when you are ill, is to hide away and not see people, not just because you don’t want to pass on anything contagious, but you feel terrible or don’t have the energy to deal with social situations. If you are constantly ill, it’s logical that then you are constantly inclined to isolate yourself, for a multitude of reasons.
Unfortunately a person’s worth in society seems predisposed as to what they can provide to society and their community, which is fair in concept, but when it comes to reality, many people will get ill and fall through the cracks of society, never to rise up again. This is why government safety net policies and education on chronic illness is so important.
There’s an important thing to learn for both sides really. Chronically ill patients need to realise how self-focused they become, and in doing so, how it isolates them. Sometimes focusing outside yourself, actually helps you, but it’s a balance where you shouldn’t do too much. Society needs to learn how to incorporate the chronically ill better into communities. There should be work and social opportunities created, and education towards rectifying the widespread ignorance.
Nice. Thanks for the article.