But You Don’t Look Sick…
Why perception isn’t necessarily reality
You look great!
That’s what I hear often, and I guess I should take it as a compliment. But perception isn’t necessarily reality. As a matter of fact, for many of us who live with invisible illnesses, the reality is a day-to-day challenge in managing the uncertainty of our particular ailments.
In my case, it’s lupus — an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks itself. Symptoms and effects of lupus are many — too many to list here — but suffice it to say that they range from annoying to life-threatening. While some of the symptoms are visible, such as the lupus butterfly-shaped face rash, many more are not.
Invisible illnesses can manifest in many ways. Regardless of the internal pain that a person suffering from it can feel, the lack of outward “proof” of illness is often the cause of emotional pain that parallels the physical. Having to navigate through the world looking “fine” and worse, dealing with people’s skepticism that what you have is real makes living with the pain even worse.
Having to navigate through the world looking “fine” and worse, dealing with people’s skepticism that what you have is real makes living with the pain even worse.
The upshot? Don’t assume. Don’t make assumptions about people because guaranteed, nobody knows the full story. Perception isn’t necessarily reality and pain is not always obvious. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Perception isn’t necessarily reality and pain is not always obvious. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
When people are unaware of your situation, it’s easy for them to make assumptions about your actions or behaviors.
I spoke about living with this invisible illness in this interview with AMI Media. Check out the link below to view the full discussion. Are there any lessons learned here that you may not have thought about before?
