I wanted to talk about pain today. I have had arthritis from my tennis days for over 45 years. This is what happens when you spend eight hours a day for almost ten years on hard tennis courts. Part of my symptoms involve pain.
In the end, I have lived with the following philosophy. Arthritis is an event and the nature of our reaction is to slow down to ease the pain. I have spent my time continuing to be active and to not put energy into the challenge or cause the challenge to run my life.
Carolyn Myss is an author who wrote a wonderful book called 'Woundology.' It reflects that we choose to label ourselves how we show up in life. We pick a challenge (health, abuse as children, disabilities) and allow the challenge to run our life. Again this does not mean the event does not have impact. But we are the ones who choose the impact it has on us. I have always used my arthritis as a motivator not an obstacle. When I chose to continue to not listen to my body and be active, my arthritis doctor told me I would not be able to walk by the age of 40. Since that diagnosis, I have participated in a marathon and 3 half-marathons. My health challenge that is presently slowing me down is not the athritis.
In fact, there is not an active arthritis joint in my body today. I am not my body. I am a spiritual being on a grand adventure and the taxi cab that I've been assigned (my body) isn't a new cab. It's been pretty used.
So pain is a constant for me. I live in the upper ranges of pain to the point I must keep switching activities and physical locations because it impacts my concentration and focus. But as my wife and I both say, "It is what it is!" I move forward and take steps of self-care that help working with the pain. This will be my only blog about my pain because I just don't want to talk about it! (A great line from Moonstruck!)
It has been one of the great things about feedback around self-care. My anology is that my body is a car. My car for most of my life had an automatic transmission. When it was time for maintenance or rest or care, I tended to ignore the check light on the panel and take it past the redline. I did this frequently, in fact more often than not.
Now with s permanent knee infection, God has taken away my automatic transmission. He's put me in a stick shift. He is the one that shifts out of gear and into neutral and when it happens I am done. It is time for self-care, even if I don't want it. So it's not always that I'm doing a good job. It's just that God has stepped in to let the flow be divinely led.
Pain is a great tool. It is giving you information that something is wrong. The first reaction is finding out why the pain. Then when it is determined, we move to know that the pain is along for the ride.
I was a high level athlete. When I had an injury, I would always check in with my doctor about recovery. I wanted to recover as quickly as possible without causing self-injury. I had to find out where the line was and how much I could push myself.
So in your life please maintain balance between self-care and pain. The two make a fabulous team!
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