“I feel fine, but something must be wrong.”
Do you know of anyone that might fall under the term of hypochondriac? Or better yet, are you one of those people who fall under this term? Hypochondriacs for those that are unfamiliar, are people with almost an obsessive feeling of illness from an undiagnosed condition. They are people who get a stomach ache and right off the back they know for a fact that they are dying of some form of cancer. Or for me at least, I have lost quite a bit of hair, so now I have this feeling of, “Oh my God, am I getting sick?” Or is it that I need to adjust my sleeping patterns and the food I eat. Because we worry so much, especially now in society than at any other point in history. And there may be some explained reason as to why someone might obsess over the idea of getting sick and feeling like they are worse than their true problem.
One of the reasons is that as people who are hypochondriacs, we tend to be more aware than the average person. And when I say aware, the idea of your mortality constantly sits in the back of your mind. And knowing this gives you a sense of urgency, so you don’t want to check out of the world too soon before you can accomplish your goals in life. Yes, death is inevitable, and something none of us can control, but no one wants to die young. Especially if there is so much that you have not yet accomplished. We freak out at the very thought of someone telling us we are ill. But what is crazy about hypochondriacs is that not only is there nothing wrong, we tend to be completely fine. And worrying sometimes brings upon stress that makes us more ill than the illness we fear that is inside of us. But what is another reason for hypochondria.
We also freak out over the idea that we are sick because in some weird psychological way, it makes us seek attention. We are typically lone types of people and we want someone to feel sympathy for us. Yes, that is a very me driven mentality to have, but it is true. Our side might hurt, and we immediately think, “Oh my God, I have Kidney disease.” When in reality we might just have a slight pain that eventually goes away. But we want to actually be sick so people can treat us like a special case. Our loved ones will galvanize and crowd around us, giving us their prayers. Sometimes hypochondriacs envision our own funerals, and how everyone mourns over us, then we play back in our minds what happened in our lives that brought us to the point of sickness, that ultimately led to death.
It all sounds crazy, and you know what it is crazy. In the end, hypochondriacs tend to be quite self-centered and overly aware. We’re sensitive to everything from the natural world, to the language we use among each other as people. And our sicknesses are almost the confirmation that we need to say something is wrong. It comes from a place of emptiness in our lives. Because anyone who receives fulfillment in life is not constantly thinking about death. They know it is a reality and just deal. But our mortality and the understanding of our mortality creeps hypochondriacs out. Yet, with that awareness comes the need to accomplish goals because we know we are not here on Earth but for a temporary stay.
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