I believe pain is inevitable, even necessary, but that suffering is a choice. My feet hurt right now, but I don’t allow that pain to steal my power to choose. If I yielded my will to that pain, I would soon be suffering, even suffocating.
On the other hand, I don’t ignore it, either. Pain alerts me to problems I need to address. So tonight, I treat the cause of the pain. I take some simple steps to bring the swelling down, knowing it will return, if not tomorrow then another day. I also know when it returns I will treat it again.
It would be dangerous to ignore the pain, pretend it’s cause does not exist, and not treat it. If I did that, I could accelerate myself into a downward physical spiral towards even greater pain, ultimately until I’m left, literally without a leg to stand on. I could also travel that same downward spiral with drugs that numbed the pain without treating the cause.
It would also be dangerous to recoil sharply from that pain, determined never to feel it again. That choice would lead me to my bed, elevating my feet, alternating heat and cold packs on them, and never again doing anything—like walking or sitting—to cause my feet to swell and give me pain.
I believe my choices are the same with both physical and emotional pain. I acknowledge and treat pain’s cause, doing what simple things I can. I do not ignore it; pretend it’s not there or that I don’t feel it. Finally, I do not flee, determined never to feel pain again, making myself numb to its warning.
I believe I cannot allow myself to become a bit numb to pain without also becoming a bit numb to love and joy.
1 comment:
It's true, if you block off pain you also block off joy. I know what it's like to numb your pain, but it does numb everything else. After that you are nothing but a void, a lack of everything that you used to be. It's horrible, and if I could turn back time I never would have made myself feel nothing.
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