My horse Fable has a disease. It is called recurrent lympharangitis. It is not so much important to explain exactly what the disease is but how it affects him.
Whereas most of the time he is asymptomatic, once or twice a year he has attacks where his fever spikes, his leg swells and his immune system goes crazy. It is very uncomfortable and very painful. Sometimes he can’t take a step without first putting his nose to the ground for balance.
Each time he has an attack, I do everything I can to help him. I inject him with expensive and risky antibiotics and pain meds. It sometimes feels as though the cure is worse than the disease. He has scarring on his leg from the last bout that will never go away. He is stiff some days, but he is still with us.
And every morning when I go out to the field to see him, my heart starts to beat a bit faster as I approach.
Every day symptom-free is a miracle.
So why am I telling you about my horse and his problems? Lympharangitis operates a lot like Covid-19. It attacks without warning, can be fatal, can leave lasting scars, and there is no cure. It is incredibly stressful and sad, knowing what I know about his future.
And I am here to share a bit of what I have learned from it all:
Life has no cure.
It is hard to accept the inevitable.
We cannot change what is beyond our control.
It is a fool’s game to believe we control much of anything but a small portion of ourselves and our actions.
Free will is not simply a given, it is a journey.
It is our life’s journey to learn enough to gain control of as much of ourselves as we can; all the while understanding there is relatively little that we can hope to master.
Everything we need to know is already within us.
Mastering what is within takes great strength, willingness, discipline and tenacity.
Fear, in most cases, is a paralyzing emotion. It is a powerful motivator and stops us from living our true purpose.
Our true purpose is different than what you might think.
What you seek and search for and is often governed by untrue and distorted beliefs passed down through generations.
It is hard to let go of our beliefs of how we think our lives (or the lives of others close to us) should go.
Letting go of everything we think we know and understand is the key to waking up and living a limitless life.
Letting go is harder than it looks.
Life is not a right, it is a privilege.
Make the most of it. Now.