Filed under: Health
For those of us who muddle through with pain, protecting our bodies is a very real issue. Knowing your limitations, knowing when to say when is something that I would wager most of you don’t know how to do all that well. Let me explain.
I have been dealing with chronic pain for a very long time. Choosing my battles is something that I still struggle with. On a day-to-day basis, how do you choose what you will do and what you won’t do. I have touched on this before but not from the same perspective. How do you protect your body from harm and satisfy your head at the same time? How do you do the things you love to do and keep yourself from activities that do more harm than good?
Psychology. Pure and simple. We are rational beings. We make choices on everything we do in a given day, more or less anyhow. And in making those choices, we do most things for our own benefit. We don’t make dangerous, risky decision with regard to our bodies nor our minds. But when chronic pain is an issue, those decisions become more complex. You are now faced with challenges that not only give us a way to get things done in our lives, but to also make sure that our bodies are cared for so as to not increase our level of pain significantly.
Take for example daily living activities. These exist outside of our parameters for work and pleasure. They exist because they are things that we HAVE to do on a daily basis. Not things that we WANT to do necessarily, but because they are a must. So negotiating a deal with ourselves as to whether or not to do them is, well, non-negotiable.
But it is the fun stuff that seems to slip through the cracks when you are in pain. I used to give up many things to accommodate my level of pain. Gave up going to movies, theater, travel, shopping, etc. But then one day I realized that I was a recluse. That pain was controlling my life, not the other way around. And it was at that point that I decided that I would no longer give in the my pain. That I would take charge of it and live the fullest life possible, regardless of how much I hurt! And that was a real revelation. I found that I actually did and could do much more than I had ever thought! That being active at all cost is the way to go, keeping my body in some semblance of good condition. And the more I did the better I felt, up to a point anyhow. My problem was that I was not very good at choosing my battles. I would do EVERYTHING and then live with the fallout! And in more recent times, I have found that I do the things that are really important, then see what’s left over. If I have more energy, more drive, then I look to doing more extracurricular activities.
And I also realized that I could be active, could have fun, and still protect my body, more or less. There is no way to totally anticipate how much pain a given day will bring, but it is possible to give it all a go and feel human. And I figure that my body is going to be where it’s going to be and I will have to deal with it.
So the bottom line is: Enjoy life. Do things you love while you can. Have fun, travel, pursue whatever you are passionate about and tomorrow will take care of itself. And your pain will likely still be there, but you will be in a better place for having lived!!
