When I was 16 years old, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Crohn's Disease is an inflammatory bowel disease. With the disease comes many everyday struggles. Some of the struggles I face are not seen on the outside but are very much happening on the inside which makes it hard for people to realize what is going on. Crohn's Disease is just one of the illnesses that is considered an invisible illness.

Everyone in life faces a few bad days, here and there. Whether it be a test that you studied hard for and ended up not doing the best on or the big sports event that you thought would go well and didn't. We all have days and events in our lives that don't go as planned. Sometimes we wake up not feeling the best and dealing with being sick, but all of those problems eventually go away and are temporary.

For myself and many others who deal with an invisible illness, we face days that are just like a bad test grade, bad sporting event or even that cold that lasted a few days. Unfortunately, those bad days impact us in an even larger aspect that many people don't realize from the outside looking in.

When a person with an invisible illness faces a bad day it may not appear to seem like they are dealing with something on the outside. But, on the inside it is different. They are dealing with pain that only they know about. It is difficult when people cannot relate or understand what you are going through.

An Invisible illness, or hidden illness, is defined as something that is not immediately apparent. Some invisible illnesses include Crohn's Disease, Colitis, Diabetes, Depression, Arthritis, and many other.

Many people do not understand the pain you are actually going through. For people on the outside looking in they may think that they are either capable or incapable based on the way they look. It may, therefore, be difficult to understand someone who "looks" fine but acts incapable. They may think you like to complain and be unhappy, but they just do not completely understand what is going on for you.

Many people are lucky enough to live a happy, healthy, carefree lifestyle, therefore, it makes it harder for them to understand. Imagine getting a cold and being able to just take some cold medicine and feel better after a day or two. Now imagine a different scenario, think about what life would be like if you were not able to get rid of that cold in a few short days and instead you had to live your life with it.

Next time someone you know with an invisible illness has a bad day, imagine being in their shoes. Try and make it a point to understand what they are dealing with every day and understand that not every day will be easy for them. Remember everyone faces a bad day, even those fortunate enough to live without an invisible illness.