Much is said about transformative experiences in life. This time you almost fall down a cliff, the other in which you were left on the altar or that other you lost a loved one. Among them, there is the overcoming a serious illness.
They say, it’s said, it’s seen, it’s heard, that, facing similar difficulties, challenges to our routines, questioning of the very material reality, renewed energy, mysterious forces, appear, pushing not only to live more but more especially better.

Less frequently a positive focus is placed on the drama of suffering a chronic disease, especially for a long time, that is when starts while one is still are young. Arguments and reasoning to explain how painful is such relevant event for the one who suffers, and for the surroundings are unnecessary.
I will try to list the opposites. To highlight how it also is a transformative experience, for better or worse, but I think it is time to emphasize the “and for good.”

The first is almost evident from the scientific point of view. The cause of such situation is actually the technological and social progress: early diagnosis. In other times, and/or places, many of these pathologies would later show up sharply as threatening and lethal health events. I’m not saying this is any consolation, on the contrary, I try to point out the irony.

Facing diabetes, schizophrenia, a “curable” tumor, a permanent arrhythmia, first requires knowing, understand, what on hell is wrong. This is not all bad, distracts, although stresses, but it is temporary any case.

Once you learn how the ones who do not feel (doctors) describe it, it is time to internalize and know how it feels to be what you already were (patient, which also includes doctors) but only a certain day you were told to be. We can emphasize this point I think. The day of diagnosis is the day to be aware not the day to become some “another”. You were “another” much before, despite you were not aware and a final “another” you will only be when the process of acceptation is completed.

So, now we know “what we are” and “what we feel, what we have been told to be and how we do actually feel as ill persons ourselves. And once we “know” what we are just one more “little” step: to be it indeed. That is, if now we have already recognized the “new” self (is always your self, your destiny, your fate, your pathway actually) acceptation is missing, and necessary. And acceptation is not easy, because any past was always better, because it is neither entirely in your hands. Acceptance is created of knowing, recognizing and using the new strengths brought by your weakness: the exaltation of different senses of the one lost (sensory loss); greater distance and reflection at the idea of reality (schizophrenia); better recognition and sympathy with your own body (diabetes) … it depends.

Seen this way, when you get to that point (which is not easy or quick, probably not even permanent, because you have been pointed out (and you point yourself out) as ill-person and that creates a permanent doubt, an original sin), your “disease” is only structured and recognizable difference (that is what pathologies are by definition principle) your some limitations, as we all have but perfectly identified, and your new superpowers, strengths, skills that you probably would never have developed if it wasn´t because of this unpleasant diagnostic event.

But wait, do not start to believe to be yourself too special. “There are no diseases but ill-persons” (so each person and each body react differently to the same disease form) but there are neither such sick people but undiagnosed population.
Except for procreation and post-uterine development (adolescence, up to 30 years of age approximately), your body develops in a permanent tendency toward error, failure, sickness, death, which is one of the few certainties in biology.
Someone will call this scope pessimistic but long ago it was explained as the opposite. Our artificially prolonged life (naturally, if considering human products natural) is summarized in more periods of faults, errors, disease, fight, than in those of spontaneous victory over external nature. The key is so also to embrace and accept not only own illness as a challenge but disease in general as necessary and essential part of the life process, of living, of success.

And so everything is summarized, easy, no joy without sorrow as there is no life without death or pleasure without suffering. So simple, so complex.
It is not so easy to cope when you are pointed out (diagnosis) you point out yourself (denial / self-punishment) and you are pointed out by society (incomprehension, fear, lack of social support), but it is certainly possible, and, more importantly, the only viable possibility.

So, how must we, therefore, act on this chronic disease q is life? Must we surrender to the evidence? Rise up in arms at such conviction? Accept the fate idly? Bungee jumping to learn to embrace the truth?
I stick to the answers my limited understanding allow, and so try to be ill but not an illness, but here the answer must be very much written by each individual (not embrace it too strongly) in each particular time and place.