Every time I post a photo of me in the hospital people I get worried messages as I keep forgetting not everybody knows what’s happening. So let me enlighten you once and for all.

I was diagnosed with Crohn syndrome, sounds better than disease right, at the age of 13. It basically means that your body can’t handle your own awesomeness and this results in a chronic inflammation. For those that want a more detailed/scientific explanation I refer you to the Wikipedia page.

They started a cortisone treatment that turned me into a fat kid for one summer break. That’s probably not the most fun experience to have as a teenager. After a few months I got back to my normal self and I only got stuck with my medication twice a day. At age 19 I got sick again and had a surgery where I had about 1 meter of bowel removed. Seems this doesn’t affect your overall awesomeness.

When I turned 26 I got worse again and they decided to put me on this new and expensive medication. At first I wasn’t really a fan because you have to be in the hospital every two months and once you start the treatment you can’t stop anymore, ever. But I learned to love it. I could stop with all my other medication which I kept forgetting to take. During the treatment you get to relax in some sweet recliners and they have ultra fast wifi!

As it’s a chronic disease I’m most likely stuck with it for the rest of my life. I will always have some level of discomfort/pain it’s only when it interferes with my everyday life that the doctors try to step it up. Recently I learned there is this guy, named Barney Stinson, who discovered the same technique I use to feel better. True story.

Barney Stinson, always a source of inspiration.

I ignore being sick as much as possible and outsourced my worries to doctors and nurses who are doing a great job. It’s just every six weeks that I allow myself to make one sad picture and whine for bit. I noticed girls just instantly want to take care of you, must be a biological reaction. What can I say? That is probably what they call a silver lining.

All the other days I’m happy and awesome.

Classic whiny Instagram post.

The biggest influence it had on my life is through something one of my doctors said when I was 13. He said if you don’t start eating your vegetables you’ll never make 30.

As a 13 year old I was not a big fan of vegetables so I decided to plan ahead and make sure I was rich by the time I’d hit 25 this gave me 5 more years just to kick it and enjoy my wealth.

This one sentence, although not true, really was/is my drive to only do that what makes you really happy and never waste time. I promised myself never to use this disease as an excuse to not be awesome. This resulted in the unconventional path I have chosen for myself. Always driven by this feeling that there is not much time left.

When I did turn 25 however I wasn’t able to retire (yet). In this pursuit to be rich by 25 I learned that being rich hasn’t anything to do with money, it’s just a state of mind. If you wake up every day free to decide what, where and with who you want to spend this day, you can call yourself a rich person. In that regard I can call myself blessed and rich.

My takeaways :

Whenever you are feeling sick stop and start being awesome instead.

You can only play the cards they dealt you. Don’t start looking for excuses just try to win.

Being rich is a state of mind.

Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed it, would mean the world to me if you shared it with someone. :)