Illness And Appearance

Illness and appearance can be a tricky thing, especially when you have an “invisible” disease.

But I wonder where people get off thinking that they can make comments about my appearance.

Now I’m not talking here about compliments – real, actual compliments – feel free to keep those coming.

I’m talking about people that say things like, you look so much better than you did the last time I saw you, or you’re face is looking much better than it was, or you’re looking less bloated today.

I wonder how these people would feel if I said something like this to them.

Wow, I see you’ve managed to remove your head from your butt.

Now really, I would never say that. But sometimes I really want to.

I really don’t think that the (un)sick would appreciate a comment like, you look better than you did the last time I saw you.

But since I’m sick, it’s okay to make comments like that. Because I don’t have my health, I don’t have any feelings either?

I think it’s funny. These backhanded comments don’t come from people I see all the time, but ones that I see every few weeks or months. It’s like they think they know me or something, or know what I’m going through. But this is kind of impossible since they rarely see or talk to me in the interim.

And believe it or not, I know how I look. I went through the sweat pants only phase, through the my face is so bloated I would rather not leave the house phase.

I don’t insist on reminding these people of their insensitivity or idiocy, so why do they remind me of my personal failings? I know, it’s pretty crazy that I left the house sometimes looking the way I did or admitted that I hadn’t gotten dressed in the dark.

But in life, we have to take the good with the bad, and that includes appearance, too!