WEGO Post #8: Favorite Quotes

To celebrate National Health Blog Post Month, WEGO Health is hosting a 30 Days, 30 Posts Challenge for health-related bloggers. Each day, they have a different topic for a short blog post, with a Facebook page for posting links. Today's topic is 3 Favorite Quotes.

This is an easy one for me! I discovered these first two quotes in my first year of illness, and they have provided a lot of support and comfort over the years:

"You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."
          - E.L. Doctorow

I think I actually found this one on a bottle of Jones soda! And I have since learned that Doctorow was talking about writing, but none of that matters. This quote is perfect for a life with chronic illness and learning to live one day at a time, sometimes just one moment at a time. We are relearning that lesson this week.

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"
          - Mary Anne Radmacher

I came across this one in a catalog on a plaque and started sobbing! It was just what I needed to hear at that time. I printed a picture of the plaque and kept it in my bathroom, where I have re-read it at the end of many bad days. This really gave me strength - to understand that sometimes the best we can do - the most we can do - is just to wake up the next morning and do our best again.

And finally:

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought that no one but myself...'.”
          - C.S. Lewis 

This one perfectly describes the many friendships I have made online, with people I've never met in person but feel very close to (I can see my son rolling his eyes!). One of those friends, Annie, is co-administrator with me of a Facebook group I started for Parents whose children have ME/CFS and related illnesses. Annie added this quote to our group description, and it describes exactly how we all feel about each other and the group. Same with people I have gotten to know through blogging and through other illness-related Facebook groups. There is such power in those shared experiences; no one else in the world can truly understand what we live with and what our daily lives are like.

So, those are my three favorite quotes - do you have any?

(P.S. If you have a sick child/teen/young adult and want to join the Facebook parents' group, please leave me a comment, e-mail, or message on Facebook or on my Facebook page for this blog - it'll save a lot of time doing a background check if I know you legitimately belong when I see your member request).