Don't Waste Your Time

I try to spend most of my days embracing my illness, rather than resenting it. Although in my younger years, I definitely hated having Cystic Fibrosis because I never understood why I had to be different from my peers. As I grew older and started coming into my own, I eventually learned to love my broken self because it was the only I had or was ever going to have. I accepted that I was going to suffer, but knew that I’d always be okay. Sure, self-love is a big lesson my disease has taught me and will continue to until death do we part, but it wasn’t the greatest thing I have learned from having a chronic illness. Time; it is the most precious gift we are given in this life. It is something we cannot buy, but can give away in exchange for money. It is something we can waste, but can never earn back. Because my disease is terminal and progressive, I knew from a young age that I might not have a lot of time. Thinking about how little I would get compared to all of the other kids in school made me jealous. But to live with a heart full of jealousy is not truly living, it is a waste of time. During my journey of chasing quality over quantity, I realized that time is a man-made thing. And, no matter what you believe in, life is not man-made; so how could everyone treat it as though it was? We are all given an equal chance at life in terms of quality, and what we do with it everyday defines how well it was lived. In the grand scheme of things, everyone has a short life. But in terms of minutes, hours, day, years—mine will be shorter. With that in mind, I have learned to embrace everything in the present for what it is because of how unpredictable life can be! You truly never know what tomorrow is going to bring regardless of circumstance, so it is important for everyone to make the most of their life while they can.