

Thoughts on the Journey

I have to applaud writers of any kind because often bring forth ideas that are held by the collective consciousness.  It’s the feelings or ideas we all have but often don’t say out loud and then we hear them in a song of a movie and feel validated, intrigued, or simply free.  I felt that way when I was watching a movie titled, “To Save a Life”.  The story is about the impact of teen suicide on a young man struggling with the normal challenges of being a teenager.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that it was a Christian film, but if you could remove pigeonholing the film for those ideologies you’ll see the themes and messages are universal.

Toward the end of the film the youth minister (I think it was him) say, “Life’s a journey, not to a destination, but to a transformation”; that was a pause the movie moment.  When I heard that line I immediately thought about those of us diagnosed with a chronic or other life-altering illness, because if it’s only about the destination you’ll miss so many opportunities along the way to experience health and healing.

You may be asking if it’s really possible to experience transformation after the diagnosis of an illness and of course the answer is YES.  Transformation may be on other levels aside from the physical.  It may include emotional, spiritual, social, and even financial transformations.  I wrote a post a few weeks ago speaking about the difference between getting better and getting well.  So if getting well isn’t an option based on the diagnosis and getting better is the goal; then how will you experience transformation? 

It’s possible that you develop new levels of compassion and understanding.  You may become a better listener to your family and friends.  You may break out of our shell and become a bit more adventurous.   If you think about Tim McGraw’s song, “Live like you were dying”, you’d understand the types of transformation I’m discussing.  I encourage you to listen to that song because it discusses his own transformation after his father famous baseball play Tug McGraw died of a brain tumor. 

Thing about what your transformation might entail and what steps you’d like to take to make sure they materialize.  It’s a process, not a one time event.  Our lives are forever transforming; that’s what we call growth.