Being ill recently with Covid-19 and then recovering from it completely has boosted my confidence in my (over fifty years old) body’s strength, and my sense of confidence overall. I have long been a believer in Nietzsche’s axiom that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, even if this may not be immediate or takes a while to become evident. I had some scary moments around thinking I was not going to get well anytime soon, that I may be left somehow medically weakened. If that had been the case, I would have committed myself to finding the strengthening of my spirit somehow. Learning while living is a route towards strength, since knowledge, whether gained from books and/or life experience, is power.
Stronger/More Confident After Having Covid-19
The Practical, Fanciful Pagan
Health, Personal Reflection/Memory, Philosophical/World-View, Spiritual/Religious, Work-Related
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Published by The Practical, Fanciful Pagan
I'm gay, married, Pagan, and Progressive-minded from California, raised by hippie intellectuals. I relocated to Massachusetts for graduate school and never moved back to the Left Coast. My day job is that of psychotherapist in private practice, a profession I love with all my heart and a dream fully realized that I'd had since fifteen years of age. These are my rantings, reviews, and reflections. If nothing else, I hope you find something worth reading here and leave the rest. View all posts by The Practical, Fanciful Pagan
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The Practical, Fanciful Pagan 
I’m so glad you are better! Had your physical vitality been compromised, I have little doubt you would have found ways to make your life rich nonetheless, you of such creativity and inner resources of Self.
For me, the saying, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” is a monumental 👎. Enough experiences that “kill you” break you…or just gradually erode you.
I always say my world/life is like the Tardis (Dr. Who)—bigger on the inside 😎. I suppose if one can keep on believin’ (and sustain imaginative capacities) then maybe that’s the “makes you stronger.”
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“I always say my world/life is like the Tardis (Dr. Who)—bigger on the inside 😎. I suppose if one can keep on believin’ (and sustain imaginative capacities) then maybe that’s the ‘makes you stronger.'” Yes, that, and/or whatever other silver lining one can find out of a painful, even debilitating experience. I’m committed to finding the “glass half full” side of anything. If and when I no longer can do that, I might as well not be in my current profession.
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Yes, agreed that “glass half full” sustains. Of course my preference would be to have a mostly full glass! Seems the challenge is finding whatever keeps the glass at least half-full; otherwise we’re talking denial/delusion/wishful thinking. And 😣 reminded of yet another horror/twisted saying I was raised on: “if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.” Ugh. (Scots proverb circa 1628).
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I’ve never cared to use that old proverb, which I certainly grew up hearing on occasion too, though not by any of my folks.
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I agree with your wording “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and for me, it is a daily reminder. Since God has been at my side in my current situation, he shows himself with the sun nearly blinding me, or a full moon bright in the sky, or clouds racing by with blue behind them. These have been showing up 24 hours a day, sometimes with sun rays on branches of trees throughout the property. I wholeheartedly agree with your last statement. Thank you.
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