Schizoids dealing with sudden illness or disability?

Hi All

I was just wondering whether this is a topic that scares you as much as it scares me.
I have never been to the hospital in my whole life aside from when I was born and the thought of one
day being sick, getting some long term illness or becoming disabled scares the crap out of me as I feel
that it would affect my freedom and independence which as you know it is the most important thing in
the world for a schizoid.

Do you experience the same fears in relation to this topic? Have you had any long term illness or disability and how did you deal with it?

Thanks!

For me, the worst case scenario would be that I would somehow get ill or disabled in a way I do no longer have the ability or possibility to kill myself in order to snap out of a life being entirely dependent on others. But does this possibility make me experience fear? No. I mean, how likely is this to ever happen?

This could be a bit of a weird remark, but I really think what could help you with your fears is realizing that in 99,9% of all cases when you get ill or disabled to the point of becoming too dependent on others for your taste, you got an escape. Realizing that the option of suicide is right at your hands in nearly all cases can be soothing, even liberating. Not only when it comes to this issue, but in general. Strictly speaking, you don't ever have to deal with anything in life you don't want to deal with. Not to advocate suicide, but mere awareness of that possibility could bring some relief of suffering. It makes your suffering a choice, and as long as you choose to suffer, there must still be something for you to live for.

^^^ Interesting suggestion but despite being a strong supporter of euthanasia, I don't think suicide is something i would ever consider.

I guess my fear of eventually becoming sick or even becoming old stems from not having a support network of people to fall back on, but even if i had one i don't know if i would like it because i would feel like i would be deprived of my freedom and independence- i am sort of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I can totally sympathize with worrying about being trapped by disability. I've often felt trapped in life, sometimes due to circumstances, but sometimes due to weird mental "dropping-out," which I'm now pretty sure is due to something other than SPD.

However, I was very lucky to stumble onto Stoicism relatively early in life, and it's pretty much designed for questions like this. The key thing is not to make yourself miserable by confusing what is and isn't under your control:
http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.1.one.html

Since, then, we are bound to many things, we are depressed by them and dragged down. For this reason, when the weather is not fit for sailing, we sit down and torment ourselves, and continually look out to see what wind is blowing.

"It is north."
What is that to us?
"When will the west wind blow?"
When it shall choose, my good man, or when it shall please AEolus; for God has not made you the manager of the winds, but AEolus.
"What then?"
We must make the best use that we can of the things which are in our power, and use the rest according to their nature.
"What is their nature then?"
As God may please.

Recently, there's been some guy that made millions of dollars in Silicon Valley, then decided to leave it all and start writing books re-branding Stoicism as the new killer app I personally think he's a poseur because he could have just told everyone to read the classics rather than buying his book

But don't let the messenger obscure the message; Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius are some good stuff. I've never read Seneca, but he's another big one.

^I remember being interested in Stoicism when I was young and finding some kind of strength to endure lousy circumstances by identifying with the philosophy. Still, I don't think it would help me to deal with illness or disability any better, unless it was something temporary like a fractured ankle. I'm not a diagnosed schizoid, but the thought of long term illness or disability scares me for the same reasons as it scares OP, which are possible loss of my freedom and having to depend on other people's help.

I've had some health issues in the past and I hated it. Especially having to go through physical pain depresses me quickly and makes me imagine worst case scenarios. When I'm ill I want to isolate myself from the rest of the world even more than I normally do. I'm not into suicide at all (I know that it would be impossible for me to commit suicide), but I might be one of those people who stubbornly avoid getting help for an ailment until it's too late.

Quaker 'Faith and Practice' 21:67:
"I was terrified that I'd break down.
I did.
It didn't matter."

euromelbourne wrote:I guess my fear of eventually becoming sick or even becoming old stems from not having a support network of people to fall back on, but even if i had one i don't know if i would like it because i would feel like i would be deprived of my freedom and independence- i am sort of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Now that I'm nearing 50, I've been having similar concerns. Most people have friends and family to rely on but, I have no one and can't even afford home care. What I fear and dread even more than getting sick or becoming disabled, however, is being forced to care for my elderly parents in my home, as it's a 24/7 job requiring constant interaction.