Reflections on Impermanence and Health
By Jonathan Thang

Something interesting happened recently regarding my health, and I wanted to share a little story about it.

I had just gotten back from a long trip when I began to get sick. I thought it could have been from the jet-lag and lack of sleep. Only thing is, it just kept getting worse. It got so bad I couldn’t even sleep lying down without excessive pain in my head. I tried everything for relief of the pain, at night I would even try to sleep in a meditative position. Needless to say, I wasn’t getting much rest.

The sudden loss of health was ironic because during that trip I was planning a potential very early retirement. I was exploring where I might comfortably retire if I wanted to retire early at 40. I had also thought about what kind of lifestyle I wanted and forecasting how my finances would support it. As I lay on my bed, unable to sleep or work, I realized something important- planning is really just for our own sense of control. We make plans because it gives us comfort, but reality unfolds according to its own causes and conditions, regardless of what we want or hope for. No matter how much we try to prepare, life will play out in its own way, often in ways we can’t foresee or influence.

For those four days, even though I was in severe pain, I still had to continue working. That gave me a lot of empathy for the elderly, who live with constant aches and pains but still show up every day and carry on with life until the end of their days. It also made me think about those struggling with mental illness—how people must live with pain or difficult thoughts every day. We can’t escape our own suffering; it’s something we have to live through and deal with. It was a reminder of how important it is to cultivate ourselves and to be there for others who are going through difficult times with kindness, warmth, and support.

After days of pain and no answers from Urgent Care, I finally realized it was a tooth issue. As soon as it was fixed, just like that, everything that had felt unbearable was suddenly in the past.

What struck me was how the pain of those four days, which felt endless, was immediately resolved. It’s easy to get lost in the moment’s suffering, but just as things come, they also go. The impermanence of life in full display. This experience also made me realize that no matter how much we accumulate (whether it’s wealth, fame, or comfort) none of it matters when we’re in pain. All I desired was to be free from physical suffering.

This brings me back to the Buddha’s teachings on impermanence. Ultimately, worldly sensations don’t hold lasting value. We don’t know when or if we’ll get sick, or how things will resolve themselves. There’s no timeline for these things—when it happens, it just happens. This whole experience has reminded me to live in the present moment and appreciate what I have now because who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Lastly, I found the entire experience interesting because I actually have so much gratitude for it. The pain itself came and went, which I still find amazing as I sit here writing. For a moment, in the depths of my pain, I couldn’t remember what it was like being healthy. Anyhow, the pain came and went but the lessons I was reminded of —about empathy, gratitude, and impermanence—are here to stay. I still find it curious how it’s never about what happens to us  but rather how we perceive things that define our experience.  We have the power within us to turn any situation, however seemingly dire into a positive learning experience that can help us grow and find more peace within this life.

That’s the story I had to share from this very short but intense week of my life where my body being sick gave my mind time to contemplate on all these things.