Contagious Compassion

Robin Roberts from ABC's Good Morning America has come out with a book called Everybody's Got Something. It chronicles her life struggles with not only breast cancer but also a 'pre-leukemia' cancer called MDS. She has been very open and honest about her journey through it all. In promotions for this book she speaks about the title being something she learned from her mother from a very early age. Like most children Robin would complain about this or that and her mother's response was always "everybody's got something". It helped Robin learn to be grateful because everybody does have their own struggles even when we don't see them outwardly. Robin says that when she learned of her cancer(s), her mother came in with the same "everybody's got something" only these words were filled with compassion and love rather than a mother's stern lesson to be learned attitude. Robin is full of compassion, kindness, and likability. She is also so brave and so smart to want to open up her most intimate moments in her life to help spread knowledge. Her compassion is a compassion, in my opinion, that we all need to pay forward.


I have said many times that is why I started my blog. In my deepest darkest hours of wondering and worrying about the illnesses and therefore life challenges I was facing, I had no where to turn. I could only find articles speaking about my illnesses. It was rare if at all that I would find some relatable information that I could apply to my own life and feel like I had a model to follow. I would often never find a single person let alone an article speaking to someone's journey similar to my own. Much like on television or in a book, we never find a character or scenario that matches our lives perfectly, but we do find traits and bits and pieces of things that do apply to us. Sometimes only that small strand that links us, helps give us a new insight or validates our emotions. I struggled with that... I still struggle today. My blog was started with the intention to inform, connect, and learn. In it all, I have found it very cathartic.


Everyone, including myself, look at others and think they are so brave to expose what makes most of us feel bare. Certainly that is how I feel about Robin. But we need to change our perspective on this a bit. It is something to be praised when people open up about taboo information that many out there actually need. The truth behind the illnesses and the journeys we all go through is that these are not weaknesses. Illness is not a weakness whether it be physical illness or mental. Feeling emotions like pain, sadness, numbness, loneliness, and grief does not make one weak, only human. Not one person in this world wishes they were sick, homeless, hungry, lost, or dealing with a loss. Somehow we all face it in some form or another in our lives. It is the way we approach these struggles that shows our strengths and weaknesses. All of us trudge through putting one foot in front of the other. We often say when someone passes that they "lost the battle with [cancer, depression, heart disease, PTSD]" when in reality no one has lost any battle. We are human beings with no guarantee of endless life on this planet. None of us are immune to pain. We all pass at some point. Where we go from there is based on your own beliefs.


As human beings we have to support each other. As human beings (said so many times before) we all have struggles. We will all face loss. We will all face illness. We will all faces problems related to money or family or friends. We will all have bad days. How can we move along day by day as if there is not a problem in the world? Why do we all feel the need to put on a blank smile when we are falling apart on the inside? Many of us live a façade. We certainly don't need to scream our pain to the world, but we do need to connect. In that connection we could be on either side of the coin- the shoulder to cry on or the crying. If we don't communicate we will continue to attach these stigma's of weakness to any trait or situation we don't agree with or, possibly, don't understand.


Let's take away the stigmas. Let's understand that facing these struggles head on and being open about them is what should be done. It can make someone else in this world feel less alone. It could start a path for more to follow. It could bring more knowledge and insight into your own pain. Like a smile that is contagious, compassion should fall right in line. Knowing that although not everyone is going through the same thing you are, they are facing some challenge in their own life. Why step on someone else's heart when it is the last thing you would like done to yours?


Maybe you don't have a blog. Maybe you have a personal journal. Maybe you are not comfortable writing a book or a blog for the whole world to see. But we all have at least one person we can talk to. Sharing our own experiences will not only lighten our hearts, it can help heal others. Like a game of telephone, the knowledge often gets passed along. Never feel ashamed about anything. Everyday is a new day and it is never too late to change. You do not have weaknesses, you have challenges. Remember that.