danielle brooks
faculty advisor, newearth university
and only one heals
There is nothing like losing your health to
make you stop and take a good look at yourself and the life you are living. Let’s face it.
We take our health for granted, assuming
that our bodies will continue to keep up with
our fast paced lifestyles, our cravings, desires
and all the stress we heap upon ourselves.
Be honest! How often do you give it a single
thought? You probably haven’t unless you’ve
needed to. But once you lose your health,
you realize that it is the foundation of your
life. There is nothing more precious than our
ability to live vibrantly and fully, to have the
lungs to breath, the strength to stand, arms
to hold and eyes to see. So often we don’t
know what we miss until it is gone. And
then, we look for the silver bullet, the magic
pill that will put it all back together again.
Rapido! So we don’t miss a beat. Except it’s
impossible to go back. You can only ever go
forward and there are two paths you can
choose from. Losing your health is a wake up
call. And it’s one that can change your life for
the better, forever. It’s all a question of how
you want to walk it.
I remember when I received that wake up
call. It was a harsh one, as most of them are.
It didn’t come to me softly with time. It was
abrupt and booming. I had been through a
very challenging year with layer upon layer
of loss and difficulties that were all piling up,
one on top of the other. I was suffocating
underneath it all. Have you ever had a year
like that? Or a space of time that felt surreal
as if you are in free fall and it’s all you can do
to get up in the morning and put one foot
in front of the other? Now I consider myself
pretty positive but that year wore me down
with grief, sadness and loss. So much so, that
I was numb and pinching my leg while I sat
in the doctor’s office hearing that dreaded
cancer word and a verdict thrown down that
was too harsh to believe.
I don’t remember much of the days and
weeks that followed. I had no energy, no
focus and no desire to share this news with
anyone. It’s a heavy weight to carry alone. But
heavier still was the truth that I’d lost my will
to live. As far as I could see, cancer was the