Pain and Me

One day in class, a professor asked me, "What motivates you, Chris?"
And out of my mouth jumped the statement, "Lack of pain."

Of course this is a very simplistic statement reflecting a very simple thought process.  Who wants pain?  We all shy away from that.  But truth is, we make our greatest strides forward when we confront pain.  I think we are most successful when we face pain with a plan, a goal and a resolve.  We can't fix all pain, but we can face it and deal with it for what it is.

Pain tells us there is something wrong.  It is a call for action.  Sometimes it is a call to confront the fault inside us that is dragging us down.  We remove the splinter in our finger; we wash and care for a wound we have. We vow never to drink so much ever again the morning after.

Like the alcoholic who fights with his addiction to stay sober, so too must we fight our pain.  We must find the cause of our pain and then make a plan to fix it.  We must probe until we find the cause of the problem, then we must figure out a solution, form a plan and go after the pain.

Some pain lasts a lifetime.  Some plans to confront pain take a lifetime to formulate and execute.  (Let me tell you a little secret I learned volunteering at Hospice.  People often, very often, die in pain.  (Yes, even with the greatest cocktail of drugs available.))  I know you didn't want to hear that, but I think you and I should be aware of this.

Very often in life, we must fight and endure the pain of change, the uncomfortableness of progress and the risk of failure.

Not long ago, I had my second physical therapy session since leaving the surgery floor.  The physical therapist was amazed at my progress.  I had faced the pain, I had done my exercises with daily regularity. 

But the next morning....I awoke in great pain.

After minutes that seemed like hours of trying to ignore the pain, trying to convince myself that this symptom of my surgery was not important, that the pain would go away or at least dissipate for a little bit if I fell back to sleep;.....I got up and faced the pain.

I went downstairs and started doing the stretches and exercises the physical therapists prescribed to me.  It was not a convenient time, I think is was close to 2:00 a.m.

The pain didn't go away.  In fact, for moments, it hurt more and more.  But soon, my range of motion came back, with that, the blood flow to the area increased and then the pain dissipated.  Gradually pain became more manageable.  The pain finally gave up its grip on my mind.  I won that round, but it was a close call.

If we can think of our body metaphorically as a car, or an aircraft, then pain is only one instrument on the instrument panel.  Pain cannot be the sole focus of our life.  Sometimes it screams at us and overwhelms our sense of self.  Even then, we must remember it is not the end all be all.

Pain must be dealt with and it must be acknowledged for what it is.  If we fail at this, we run the risk of even greater damage done to ourselves in the long term.

There are other components of our lives that must also be balanced our attention. 

It is best to deal with pain when it is not overwhelming.  When we know we will face great pain, it is best to make a plan in advance and stick to it through that journey we know we must go. 

The solution to great pain is really hard to diagnose while under its spell, as it overwhelms our mind.

Still, even then, the best time to face this monster is right now.