If you hang around the planet long enough, you’re going to get sick, and for sure someone you love is going to get sick.

A year ago my husband was so sick that he dropped 40 pounds in a month, his skin kept peeling off repeatedly, his entire head swelled, cracked, and was oozing, and he could do little more than sit in a chair all day.

This is a screenshot I took while we were on FaceTime when he was spending a week at my mom’s because she was away. I couldn’t do anything to help him, and he couldn’t do anything to help me take care of the girls and our business, so it was easier for him to be somewhere else.

I couldn’t allow myself to realize how bad it all was in the moment because I needed to keep it together to take care of our kids and our company, but looking back now, it was really bad.

I’m so happy to say that Mike’s health is 95% better and that the dark period we went through a year ago is becoming more and more of a distant memory.

But here’s what I’m even happier to say: Mike took the assignment.

See, I don’t think illness is simply our bodies needing us to pay attention to something physical going on that needs medication or a procedure.

I believe illness is an opportunity. It’s an opportunity for awakening, growth, repatterning, presence, and expansion.

But only if we’re up for the assignment.

Mike is a different person than he was a year ago. Or, perhaps, he’s actually the person he was always meant to be that was hidden under layers that literally needed to fall off in order to reveal his most beautiful self.

At the one-year anniversary of the sickest Mike got during his 9 months of struggle, we recorded a conversation about The Opportunity in Illness for the podcast to let you in on:

• The surprising way we view illness that helps us embrace it instead of fear it

• The critical switch your body needs to make in order to heal, how the medical system hampers this shift, and what you can do to make sure it happens anyway

• Practical steps for getting your body into a healing state that have nothing to do with what you put in your mouth

• The question that I ask myself every time I get sick that ensures that I uplevel instead of being taken out

Once you’ve listened, I’d love to hear what this episode brings up for you. What did you learn? How can you apply it to your own healing journey? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Here’s to all of our healing journeys, physical and otherwise. You can get your own copy of Do Less and still receive incredible bonuses at http://katenorthrup.com/book!

Kate wants to hear from you, and you can post about your #DoLess experiences on Instagram, DM her (@katenorthrup) or email [email protected]. Would you, or a company you know, be a good fit to sponsor The Kate & Mike Show? If so, let’s talk! You can email [email protected] regarding current sponsorship opportunities.

Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.