Illness as Teacher: Learning from Illness

Every Second Is a Life: Ulla-Carin Lindquist’s Rowing Without Oars

“…Critical encounters such as illness, however, can create powerful interruptions that allow us to pause in our daily living to allow the unexpected to occur (Charmaz, 2004). Illness can create spaces for the unexpected by stripping us of what is habitual and familiar (Yoo, 2017). It limits our physical capabilities and inhibits our capacity to engage the world.…”

“…Furthermore, illness accounts reveal how human beings can respond to the “tragedy and comedy” of living to acquire their human potentiality for consciousness. Illness demands a highly creative, empathetic, and moral response due to the challenges it involves (Yoo, 2017); it offers opportunities to develop the inner resources needed to rise to the occasion.…”

Exploring a Timeless Academic Life

“…Outwardly I smile at my class, but inside I am screaming for a chair to sit on. (Yoo, 2017, p. 55) Not surprisingly, the loss of "health" has been equated to the loss of self (Carel, 2008;Sparkes, 1996;Yoo, 2017). Ill-health can strip individuals of their everyday and familiar habits that define his or her sense of self and ways of being (Charmaz, 2002).…”

“…(Ellis, 2011, p. 164) Time flowed through my childhood like water passing through a burst pipe. I was carried by its momentum (Yoo, 2017). I am more aware of time's passage as an adult, but my perceptions are deeply colored by my parents' sadness over squandered time.…”

“…Will I look back on my life one day with horror and realise how I have spent my precious hours alone in my room, writing one meaningless paper after another until I "time out." (Yoo, 2017) What is the point of it all? Boje reflects the futility of our endless drive for achievement in the face of mortality, "You cannot take it with you.…”