Relishing the absence is a fancy way to say enjoy the going while it’s good. I’m hopeful most of the people who are reading this are not sick. The only time we realize how frustrating it can be to be sick is when we are actually sick. Take any other problem that most people face, if we aren’t experiencing it, then we don’t think about it.
Google “breakthrough cancer treatments” and see the results. There are almost daily articles on life-saving research, which is nothing to discount. I was reading an article from Morgan Housel where he took a 2013 quote from a former director of the National Cancer Institute, Harold Varmus. Varmus praised all the fantastic cancer research and discoveries which have been made, but he said that there is too much focus on treatment and not prevention.
From the same Housel article, he quotes MIT cancer researcher, Robert Weinberg, “If you don’t get cancer, you’re not going to die from it. That’s a simple truth that we sometimes overlook because it’s intellectually not very stimulating and exciting.” We all know that smoking cigarettes greatly increases our chance for lung cancer, but people are more invested in the treatment of lung cancer. Don’t get me wrong, we need to continue researching how to fight against cancers when they are contracted, but I thought it was an interesting idea that the most beneficial cancer treatment was not allowing it to develop in the first place.
I make an effort to be grateful for the current people and things around me. They won’t always be there. All that is in my control is to enjoy my current life and the experiences it brings me. I try to make a conscious effort to acknowledge when things are going well because life throws unexpected things at you.
Peace and Love.