Feeling, expressing, or showing gratitude can be both healing and challenging for tick-borne disease patients.
If you or a loved one are facing tick-borne disease, you know that gratitude is not always easy to come by. It can be hard to feel grateful when you’re suffering. The patient in your life may have an especially hard time experiencing gratitude—and that’s okay. It’s important not to force positivity on anyone, including your loved one and yourself.
Even during difficult times, gratitude can still play an important role in your experience. As a supporter, one way you may experience gratitude is for the patient in your life to thank you in either verbal or non-verbal ways.
But there’s much more to gratitude than hearing or saying “Thank you.”
For example, you may feel grateful for the opportunity to support others.
Perhaps you feel grateful for how you support others, especially in a loving way that’s unique to you.
Maybe you help patients feel believed, heard, valued and included in a way that they may not always experience from others.
Perhaps you feel grateful because you are supporting someone who supported you at some point in life, such as a parent.
Maybe you feel driven by love and dedication to help others.
Perhaps you feel gratitude for every win, big or small, and every laugh, smile, and even breath taken by your loved one who’s still here.
Reflecting on things you are grateful for as a supporter may lead you to develop new perspectives on your role. By supporting others, you may have learned something new about yourself, experienced personal growth, or gained self-confidence. By supporting a loved one, you may have learned about Lyme and tick-borne disease and are grateful for this new knowledge, which you can use to educate others or to advocate for patients. By supporting a family member, you may feel grateful for your shared experience and the stronger relationship that may have developed along the way.
As tick-borne disease patients, we appreciate everyone who supports us.
We know it takes a lot to watch someone go through a complex illness and that you deserve support as you go through this with us.
Lyme Supporters: thank you for being here.
However you experience gratitude, we sincerely hope you will reflect upon it in December. To meet and speak with other Lyme supporters, please join us for our monthly Meet-Ups for Parents and Supporters. Tap the link below to find the right Meet-Up for you!