Being Different is Good

To me, health is all about the mental and emotional side of things. I realize that most don’t see health in such a light, but I’ve come to understand that all things health related dial back to the core elements of our conscience: cognition, feelings, and a sense of protection. Without these things, physical health won’t even matter much. To be human means to reason, to wade through the mysteries of the world with some semblance of sanity, and to try to understand ourselves.

 Only once those basic essences of our being are taken care of and tended to can we start to think about the physical side of things. Only then do the physical attributes of our character really stick out as being wrong or something hurting. I think that once you sit down and face your fears, face your instabilities, and face your emotions, you start to gain a better understanding of your physical nature. For example, having surgery on your abdomen to completely restructure your excretory system to fit the needs of your current physical health is something that scares most people.

Why is it that ostomy supplies and tending to a stoma would come off as “scary” to the majority? I think it harkens back to our inner nature of knowing when something is “wrong” or unnatural. And that’s all good and well from a biological standpoint. But humanity has transcended what is traditionally seen as “biological”, and so I think it’s important to not blame our nature or our ways on such primitive things. We’ve learned how to deal with fears or with taboo topics.

So why can’t we learn to adapt physically to something new, like living alongside ostomy supplies and relearning how to go to the bathroom? It really boils down to our sense of entitlement, I believe. Because we feel like we’re owed a normal human life and a normal human body, we lash out at others who suggest that it’s okay to be different or do things in a different way. We’re ultimately lashing out at what’s abnormal deep down, we just don’t process it that way when it comes down to it.

Instead, we process it via hurtful language towards others who aren’t “normal.” So, I encourage you to see the world from a different lens. Don’t look at things as normal and abnormal. Look at them as “variety 1” and “variety 132”. There’s a whole lot of things in between that just embody how varied humans can be, and all it takes is a new system of looking at things.