Value and appreciate your health
This lesson may seem a bit too obvious, but it's too true. We only focus on our health when our health is forced to be a focus—a cancer diagnosis, a heart attack, or even a simple, stubborn cold. Make your health and healthy habits—exercising, sleeping, quality diet, and hygiene—a priority, never taking a backseat. To help, think of your health as a loved one. It's the only person guaranteed to be with throughout your entire life. Let it be your friend. Make it your best friend.
Bad news are good opportunities
When you're having surgery, resting in the hospital, meeting with doctors, or recovering at home, you tend to get bad news and get used to hearing the news. But, if you let it, the piece of bad news serves as a way for you to make a change and becomes a door to options. Bad news is the defining moment that can lead to a better business, a stronger relationship, or better fitness, assuming you use it as motivation and inspiration to work for better news.
Question everything, challenge selectively
When a doctor or a nurse says something, it seems crazy to question them, even though they're "the experts." It's even crazier to challenge them, considering their absolute advantage in medical knowledge. We assume many things are right and too commonly accept the standard or the norm. Your thoughts are more valuable, your opinions are more important, and your impact is more tangible than you think and realize. Not everything is worth arguing for or battling over, but everything is worth questioning.
Pessimism plagues success
When you're sick, all you want is to get healthier—to get out of that bed and walk. It's easy to focus on the negative or be less hopeful. It's also easy to accept being unsuccessful. Yes, fear and failure drive some people, but negative thoughts do not occupy their minds. You can't get healthier by thinking about staying unhealthy, just like you can't reach success by assuming you'll fall to failure.
Little goals count
I dreamed of walking out of the hospital without assistance. Before that, however, I had to gain the stamina. First came standing for periods of time, then pacing around the room, and finally, walking the hallway. The cliché of "the big picture" is over referenced. Vision is important, but it is only valuable if it is actualized. Our parents were right—take baby steps. Take those baby steps and celebrate them. The process seems easier, the success tastes sweeter, and walking out the hospital doors feels like winning a marathon.
Smile more
I strived for positivity but sometimes negativity cloaked the remnants of optimism I had. But, one of my nurses, upon entering and before leaving, always made me smile. She said it was good for me. She was right. According to Smile, a single smile is worth more than we think—up to the equivalent of $25,000. More importantly, it forces you to, at least temporarily, replace negative emotions, such as envy, stress, and fear, with positive ones, like enthusiasm, confidence, and trust.
Be a lifelong learner
Most of every day in the hospital bed, I would be sleeping, watching television, or dealing with doctors and nurses. Accordingly, I felt like I was lacking the intake of information that school provided me with, so I started reading everything about Apple I could. Full-fledged ideas, histories, tips and tricks, and factoids are all beautiful, so it makes sense that I compulsively watch TED Talks, read online articles, and search for personally undiscovered authors and poets. Learning is innate to organisms but holds unparalleled importance to humans. Learning leads to better opportunities and more tools to use.
Almost anything can be temporary
For over four weeks, I could not eat fruits and vegetables and was forbidden from exercising beyond a short walk. That time was miserable, but those conditions would only last so long. When thinking about those and similar lifestyle conditions, the phrase "pain is temporary" comes to mind. We fail to realize it, but almost everything is temporary: sadness, embarrassment, shame, animosity, and jealousy, among others. The sooner you let and make them end, the more confident in your willpower you will become and the happier you will feel.
Be able to stop but keep going
After the second surgery, the doctors said I could go home after I could walk a mile. Each time, I would get closer but stop, deciding to try again hours later or the next day. Even though I wanted to go home, I lacked the determination to force myself to do so. Stopping halts progress and destroys accomplishment. Walk the mile as soon as you are able to do so and realize the accomplishment you should be able to celebrate.
People will care if you let them
Initially, my support came from my family and closest friends. I was appreciative of their well wishes and warm gestures. The mountain I was climbing, though, still felt steep and impossible to climb. But, when I opened up and explained the situation to my more distant friends and to local acquaintances, people cared. People are genuinely interested in helping. You just have to give them the opportunity. The mountain becomes a prairie when you open up and expose difficulties.
Let loved ones love
I hated emergency hospital trips and visits from loved ones because I felt like the victim. It disgusted me that I felt like that because of how negative of a response it was. Familial relationships are unique relationships and the most beautiful ones at their best because of their unquestioned support. You're not powerless, but yielding them the ability to demonstrate their love will make the challenge easier to conquer.
Vulnerability is the key to stronger relationships
Friends wanted to visit me at home, but I didn't want them to visit. I felt weak. I knew that idea was not true, but I didn't want them to see me as weak. Eventually, I let one of my best friends come over. Of course, we had a great time hanging out, and our friendship deepened. Being openly honest, specifically when we are not proud of the topic, is difficult. Reaching out is difficult. But, the difficulty disintegrates more and more, as we expose the truths and reveal our inner vulnerabilities. And by reaching out more and more, trust is built and relationships become unquestionably stronger.
Each day is your day
When doctors let me leave the room for a few hours, I was asked "What do you want to do today?" I hated the question because I did not have the gusto to advocate for my interests, and thus responded "I don't know," "I'm fine with anything," or similar responses. I wanted to do X but settled for Y. Own your life. Don't be totally selfish, but don't always settle for someone else's X when it's your Y. You deserve your X. You deserve better.
Your experience will only have magnitude if you help others
My grandparents told me I was a trooper and that I would have a great story. I nodded and laughed, agreeing to the obvious, even though I felt that my story was incomplete. Stories of celebrities "giving back" and "helping the community" permeate the media. But, the celebrity status is immaterial to helping people and causes. When you endure an experience, it is crucial to use the lessons you accumulated to impact others. A traumatic experience holds weight for you. But, it will carry impact and a larger meaning if you use it to help others.
Today is all you have
The nurse would tell me I'd have a test the next day, so I would spend the remaining time before the test thinking about it, worrying about it, and preparing for it. Instead of walking to gain strength or eating to gain weight, I did nothing conducive to better my health. Tests consumed me and took over my day. Tomorrow took over my today. Society spends its time fretting about the past and wondering about and preparing for the future. It's absurd. The past is unchangeable. The future will never arrive any earlier. I'm not saying that we should not prepare for the future; we should. But, we should not mortgage today for tomorrow when today merits enjoyment and determines the way we live tomorrow, yet alone the fact that the options we have today may be different or unavailable tomorrow, if it does, in fact, come.
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