Suleika Jaouad: The Kingdom of the Sick (Part 1)

Everything Happens with Kate Bowler

Everything Happens Studios

Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.8 • 4.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2021

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There are two different worlds people inhabit. In one world, people feel infinite bounce. They can see every silver lining and believe in their bones things will always get better and that any set back is probably temporary. But then, there’s the other world. These people know what it feels like to live scan-to-scan and hold their breath when the doctor’s number shows up on their phone. Bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms, Suleika Jaouad knows what it means to carry this dual citizenship between the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick. In this conversation, Kate and Suleika discuss what it was like to have a terrible diagnosis as a young person and how to keep living when you can’t go back to the way things were. Kate ends with a blessing for those who have lost too much, too quickly. CW: cancer as a young person, incurable illnesses, fertility treatments To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Kate Boehler and this is Everything Happens.
0:04.0	I'm a historian, author, aggressively fast walker, but lately in a world that promises endless
0:10.9	progress, even now in a pandemic, I've realized I just need to be a person.
0:18.4	It's hard to give up on the feeling that the life you want is just out of reach, if
0:23.7	only you tried.
0:26.0	Make this food, find that relationship, just get the kids graduated or the parents this
0:31.6	kind of care.
0:33.4	Only then will I feel different, better, whole.
0:39.3	But that's not the way this works.
0:42.1	When I was 35, I was diagnosed with stage war cancer, and here's the very fun thing
0:47.1	about that.
0:48.4	The world loves you better when you are shiny, when you are cheerful, when you still
0:53.7	believe that your best life now is right around the corner.
0:57.9	I've written multiple books on the history of the idea that you can always fix your life,
1:03.1	so I'm going to be the one to say it.
1:05.7	There are some things we can change and some things we can't, and it's okay that life
1:12.0	isn't always getting better.
1:14.7	We can have beauty and meaning, community and love, and we will need each other if we're
1:21.2	going to tell the truth.
1:23.4	Life is a chronic condition, and there's no cure for being human.
1:35.5	There are two different worlds people inhabit.
1:38.4	In one world, people feel infinite bounce, and don't you dare tell them they aren't invincible.
	...

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