How to Bounce Back From Being Sick & Alone

“Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgement, self-abuse and regret.”

-Don Miguel Ruiz

When we are sick with whatever condition zaps our energy, just reaching across the table can seem like quite the task!     

Being alone while going through this, we have no one to rely on except ourselves. Yes, some of us can call upon a friend or family member if we really need some help. However, many of us hold back from asking for a hand, so as to not inconvenience anybody. Yet some of us don’t have any support system to speak of at all, thus we find ourselves bravely struggling on our own.    

I became inspired to write this article based on my own experience of getting Covid during the holidays of 2021, which went on much longer than I anticipated. Although It 9 did have family and friends bring me soup and cough medicine now and then they, themselves, and their children eventually were also caught up with this Covid business.

Living alone made me think about others who live alone too. What you can do to navigate through situations where you don’t have any support available and how to handle self-care?

I hope that some of the suggestions I’ve outlined in this article can assist you in being gentler and kinder to yourself at this time. Especially when you wake up feeling like you were hit by a mack truck at 100 miles per hour. 

I’m just going to break it down into two parts, the physical and the mental, to get to the emotional. Does that make sense? 

THE PHYSICAL BODY: COMING DOWN WITH SOMETHING 

On a physical level, we know that symptoms may begin with a runny or stuffed-up nose, a headache, sore throat, cough, or your body just aches all over. You initially put it off as “just a cold”, and, at the same time, you immediately reach into your medicine cabinet and pull out whatever you can find. The cold medicines, the vitamins, the cough syrups, throat sprays, and maybe even eye drops anything to take that edge off and expedite the process of healing!     

THE MENTAL BODY, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN… 

On a mental level, it’s a different story. The mind becomes noisy with all kinds of “to-do’s”. We may find ourselves still trying to keep any commitments made for that day, hesitating to give in to the “initial warning signs” that our body is demanding rest. Even saying to ourselves, “What’s a little cold, after all? Am I sick “enough” to take off work?” – if you’re working. And, if it turns out to be Covid, well that’s a whole other story. You must stay home and isolate yourself! 

As humans, we have the tendency to stress ourselves a bit too much at times. We let ourselves become run down with a million commitments, work, goals, obligations, and duties just pile up. We do these things because there’s “no one else who can do it because I am the only one who knows how to get it done the right way”.   

Therefore, first thing at the very onset is to be aware of slowing down. To be aware that the energy used to “finish stuff up” may actually serve better to prepare a bit for your self-care. If you know you’re alone, it’s worth taking a moment to realize that you too may NEED someone to help you. 

In that initial instance of awareness, it’s important to allow yourself to BE. Do this without judgment or self-blame; no analyzing where and why you got sick. Leave yourself alone and avoid belittling what you are experiencing. The focus is on doing everything to give the body the best chance to get better and heal.     

Self-blame is of no use, and recrimination never did make anyone feel better. Distract yourself with thoughts that make you feel better. Cozy up in bed with the remote control and watch TV or listen to an inspiring tape or meditation. See about possibly getting friends or family to bring in food, extra tissues, vitamins, and soups, even though you may feel “fine enough” to get all of these yourself. 

SUPPORT?     

Like others, I am fortunate to have a wonderfully devoted daughter and son-in-law. However, she and her husband have their own lives with three growing teenagers, and responsibilities as a family, and their hands are full. Even the kids came down with the flu and in spite of caring for her three kids, she still offered to bring me whatever I needed. I declined as much as I could, knowing that her plate was full already.   

Although I felt quite sick, I still didn’t consider myself to be an “emergency”. In hindsight, though, I could have used more help, but I didn’t want to take my daughter away from her three kids. Even if we have a little support system in place, it doesn’t mean we can rely on it 100% of the time. Unfortunately, due to certain logistics and other considerations, relying on family to help is not always possible.   

As I continued to feel lousy from Covid, my compassion grew into thinking of those who are either chronically or terminally ill and have no support system to assist or to help them. How do they make it through alone?     

Who can you rely on in time of need? It’s definitely a challenge when we’re alone.     

There are many issues that we face when living alone in our retirement years whether we’re single, divorced, or widowed. It is even more challenging when we’re sick. Psychologically, we can feel pretty blue. This is because we wish we had someone in our life to take care of us. To care for us, about us, and make us home-made chicken soup or a cup of hot tea and honey. Someone who can prop up our pillows or give us a hot water bottle. That’s not uncommon nor unreasonable.     

What is personal resolve? How can somebody draw on their own resilience to overcome being alone? Is there a possible plan that could help alleviate such feelings of loneliness?   

BEING CREATIVE, CREATING A NEW PLAN 

When my friend Toni received her breast cancer diagnosis I put together an email list, called “Toni’s Village”. It was composed of people whom Toni loved and who loved her. Even though she didn’t have a family of her own, there was a group of caring individuals who wanted to help. But they didn’t know how. Some of them lived in other cities, but some lived not too far away.     

I came up with a schedule for delivering meals, picking up groceries, and gathered their email addresses to keep them in the loop of her experience. They were all grateful to have updates on her health status. This was also a system to avoid Toni being bombarded with calls from caring individuals every day; causing her to repeat the same updates over and over seriously sapping her energy. 

IDEA #1 – CREATE A FRIENDSHIP GROUP 

So, here’s a game plan you can consider. How about creating your own special kind of “friendship group”? Establish this group by first setting out a clear mission and vision of finding a few friends who socialize in good times, and would be open to caring for each other if one of you gets sick. A friend in “deed”, if you wish.   

You could find people from your spiritual community, your co-workers, friends, or family members who could come by and help each other when someone is not well.     

IDEA #2 – START A MEET-UP GROUP WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE 

One way to get this going is to start your own Meet-Up group for people who are alone and want to create a synergistic friendship group. Attract others who are like-minded, kind, caring, alone, and who may even be living in your own neighborhood. There are hidden gems of people who are just like you and would be willing to step up to help someone in need.

Preparing yourself for when you happen to get sick is one way of caring for yourself in the kindest of ways. Creating a local network of individuals that can come to each other’s house uncovers balance for help and assistance and creates a friendship group for companionship; pledging to each other a common denominator to be there for each other, and defining and clarifying the directives, so that everyone is clear.   

Call the group anything you like, as long as the main commitment each one makes is to be “A Friend in Need is a Friend in Deed”. Develop your own mission and vision, and come up with a motto for the group based on mutual camaraderie and friendship. Keeping the group to about 10 people should be a good enough buffer that at least one person will be able to help in time of need.   

Everybody needs somebody. We are not supposed to be islands unto ourselves. Create your friendship circle through your synagogue, church, spiritual community, or senior center, and begin recruiting people that have the same synergistic energy/desire. Make sure you communicate with your family and friends, where everyone has everyone’s contact information. It’s all possible – who said people over 50 can’t find new friends? 

THEN WHAT?

When you create this friendship circle, you can even come up with a list of taskings that they could help you with. This includes driving to the doctors, picking up medicine, and shopping for basics like tea and tissues. Divvy up the jobs, one person can even be good at making soup, and another person doesn’t mind delivering it. Come up with a plan and cultivate it, and you will find that where there’s a will there’s a way. Maybe they are your next-door neighbor and you come up with a pact for a preventative aspect, so when you do get ill, there will be someone there.   

Step up and out in your life. Reach out to people. You’ll find that people are willing to help and are very happy that you asked them to help in a situation. It gives them a sense of being needed. Then the group forms a bond through laughter and social things, maybe even meeting at different people’s houses with the ability to call on each other in a time of need.     

And, don’t forget about car services, like Uber and Lyft, and food delivery, like DoorDash. Use them when you either need to go to the doctor or have groceries delivered. There are multitudes of other possibilities, so you never have to feel alone or isolated without help.     

Here are some additional ideas you can implement to help you PREPARE before and after you get sick. 

THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU GET SICK:

THINGS TO DO AFTER YOU GET SICK:

And, DON’T SPEND TIME WITH WORRY! One definition of “worry” is: “A prayer for something bad to happen.” Worry doesn’t do anything positive. It only makes you feel bad. (But, I have to admit, when you are sick, for longer than you think is reasonable, it’s not uncommon to have thoughts like, “Is this it?   Is this how I’m going to die? Will they find me in 3 weeks bundled up on the floor? What if I just died and nobody cared? Maybe it’s a good idea to go back to online dating. I wonder if I will ever be healthy again?” 

Let yourself have these thoughts without judgment. Know that when you are not feeling well, your thoughts will reflect those ill feelings, so don’t get down on yourself for feeling the way you do or engaging in the thoughts that come up.   Having a slight pity party isn’t all that bad, and if you can add these two words (“for now”) to the ending of every limiting/judgmental statement, you might just find yourself feeling better because it makes it temporary. 

And, as Don Miguel Ruiz states in the above quote: “Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.” 

SUMMARY

When you’re healthy, BEing alone can be quite an exciting and fun journey, but, BEing alone and sick is quite another story. We have to muster up our strength, our fortitude, and our resilience, but not without challenge, for sure. BEing sick and BEing alone can drain our energy and ability to function or think properly, especially if we’re in pain or feeling lethargic. It’s important to find ways to be as kind and gentle to ourselves as possible.     

One thing I learned from my friend Toni, it’s never what you think it is. By allowing yourself to be sick without judging yourself, something may come to you that wouldn’t have otherwise. Hear whatever messages you need to hear and let those messages be healing. Know that there is a healing taking place, even though it doesn’t look like it or feel like it. Let yourself believe that something deeper is taking place. Talk to your body. Ask your body what it wants to tell you. Be your own best friend. Take care of yourself in the best possible way. Create that friendship group and make the best of what is. 

Henry David Thoreau said: “There is one consolation about being sick, and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before.” 

It’s your life. Enjoy the journey.  And, remember to bring love into everything you do.

Shelley Whizin

Shelley Whizin is the founder and CEO of the Soul Diving Institute in Sherman Oaks, California. Her programs and teachings focus on the art and science of BEing human through explorative processes called Soul-Diving™.  She is a philanthropist, teacher, speaker, and innovative creator of programs that enhance and elevate and increase individuals’ Joy Factor© in daily life and living. She guides, coaches, and teaches individuals how to bring love, honor, and dignity into everything they do, including cooking. 

About Shelley