Please Share All Funny Memes With Me, Not Just the Ones About Poop

Blogging about Crohn’s disease and the various other chronic illnesses I have is very cathartic for me. It helps me vent my frustrations and share what it’s really like to be a chronically sick person. There is also at least one funny meme added to each of my posts because memes, after all, are a hilarious way to express our feelings.

Next to my family, my friends are my biggest supporters and I love them. My friends seem to really understand my struggle with having to use the bathroom at inopportune times because of my Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Some of my friends even have their own bowel issues so we are really in this struggle together.

Sometimes though, my friends can be totally insensitive without even realizing it. I guess maybe we all can. We have that one friend super into cars so he gets sent all the car memes, and that other friend who has a dog and gets sent all the dog memes. I am that friend that gets sent all the poop memes. Now, I love a good poop joke as much as the next person – maybe even more — but I also like jokes about other things too. I feel like my friends often forget that.

Sometimes it feels like I’m just the friend with Crohn’s disease who poops a lot and that’s my whole identity. While it’s great that I have been able to make a lot of people more aware of Crohn’s disease, it seems like I got lost behind the label. I don’t want people to forget that I have a lot more to me than just poop.

However, asking my friends to not just share bathroom related content with me seems difficult. It’s basically the majority of what I share myself on my blog. Crohn’s disease and poop jokes are a huge part of my life, but it’s not the only part. Laughing in general is a bigger part of my life. I would prefer if they want to send me something they just send me what makes them laugh, everything that makes them laugh, not just the poop related things. It’s OK to send me things that aren’t poop related, I promise.

Ever since my diagnosis back in 1995, I have heard people say, “You are not your diagnosis, you are not your illness.” Evidently I am my illness. I am the one with Crohn’s disease, the one that everyone thinks of when they see that funny bathroom humor meme. Strangely, I’m OK with that. But I hope they don’t forget about me when they see the really silly cat meme or the insanely funny meme quoting song lyrics or making fun of a movie.

Everything about my life changed the moment I was given a Crohn’s disease diagnosis, except for my sense of humor. That’s the one thing that has gotten me through the majority of the dark days. But it isn’t because I just laugh about going to the bathroom; I laugh about everything because I have found laughter is the best medicine. All I am saying is please continue to share poop humor with me, but don’t forget about the other funny things too.