Just read the NPR article -- so interesting! Desensitizing an overly sensitive nervous system to the idea of pain.
I have been creating a different relationship with pain through running -- trying to become more familiar with pain (not acute/injury pain, just being very uncomfortable) and teaching my body it can handle it. I can't tell you how empowering it is to be able to tolerate what would once have felt like too much!
I love running because my body very clearly tells me when I'm doing too much. I'll get a stress fracture and have to stop. There is no second guessing - I just have to stop and heal.
I wish the rest of life was like that I wish I'd get some clear sign that I just need to stop whatever I'm doing too much of (also, I wish I had the financial and life ability to just stop when needed, lol)
Man, if pain is a teacher, I've been studying intensively this year. I had two joint replacements--knee in February, hip in July--and have been managing pain the whole damned year. I've learned a lot, learned how much I can live with, and by god I'm hiking again. But I've grown really patient with how slowly pain looses its grip.
I'm so sorry to hear that you've been in so much pain. Part of me feels naive writing about this when I haven't had much occasion to experience severe or chronic pain. Have you found anything good about your pain as you've recovered?
Oh yeah, I’ve found a lot good about it. I find that I get to choose how much attention I give it, now that I’ve gotten used to how loudly it calls out. I can just turn down the volume on its cries, even if I can’t turn it off. And it really has taught me an awful lot of patience, in that I accept that my body is still feeling pain even if it’s also able to go on despite the pain. I’m okay with giving it space and time. And for the most part, I just try not to talk about it, as if maybe by ignoring it I can make it disappear. Even being capable of taking these perspectives makes me feel old!!! But hey, what am I going to do, lament being in pain all the time? There’s too much good stuff to do in the world for that.
Bryan and I talked about pain a lot last year while he was going through cancer treatment. Every health care provider at every appointment asked about his pain level in a scale of 1-10. At the time, I was also dealing with severe arthritic pain in my knee that generated pain all over from how I compensated for it.
Both of us kind of shrugged it off, like, pain? What pain? We began to wonder if having “a high pain tolerance” was just code for dealing with physical and emotional bullshit our whole lives to the point where we’re numb to it.
This year I’ve tried to engage more with my pain levels, accept that my body hurts, and try different things to feel better physically. This is improvement over ignoring and pushing through.
It's weird how pain affects different people differently! I can ignore sinus pain pretty easily, but if I have a hangnail it's all I can think about?! Did you listen to that Invisibilia podcast? They talk about treating vs. ignoring pain. I wonder if there are merits to both approaches in different situations?
I used to be as much a skeptic of “fluffy” things as you seem to have been, but for a different reason. I identified as en engineer so if science couldn’t explain it, it wasn’t real. My divorce had me fall off that train of belief. At that time, I had an upper left shoulder pain that nagged at me for years. I always massaged it and attributed it to stress. I had anxiety too so I took meds for both. That pain miraculously disappeared post divorce, and now I realize its purpose. Whenever my truth and my life trajectory are mismatched, I get this pain. Nothing will get rid of it until I acknowledge what I’m not aligned with and ultimately change my script.
Very convenient for staying away. Very inconvenient for falling back asleep. :)
Difficult experiences have a way of opening us up to spiritual explanations, don't they? I've definitely felt more open to the spiritual side of things since losing my brother last year.
I think it's so cool how you were able to listen to your body and figure out what your shoulder pain meant! This is still a work in progress for me, but it's amazing to know that our bodies can guide us this way.
Just read the NPR article -- so interesting! Desensitizing an overly sensitive nervous system to the idea of pain.
I have been creating a different relationship with pain through running -- trying to become more familiar with pain (not acute/injury pain, just being very uncomfortable) and teaching my body it can handle it. I can't tell you how empowering it is to be able to tolerate what would once have felt like too much!
yes, I think embracing the suck is one thing running is very good at teaching!
I love running because my body very clearly tells me when I'm doing too much. I'll get a stress fracture and have to stop. There is no second guessing - I just have to stop and heal.
I wish the rest of life was like that I wish I'd get some clear sign that I just need to stop whatever I'm doing too much of (also, I wish I had the financial and life ability to just stop when needed, lol)
A stress fracture sounds very ouchy! But yeah, I can see how that would be clarifying in a way our typical burn-out culture isn't.
Man, if pain is a teacher, I've been studying intensively this year. I had two joint replacements--knee in February, hip in July--and have been managing pain the whole damned year. I've learned a lot, learned how much I can live with, and by god I'm hiking again. But I've grown really patient with how slowly pain looses its grip.
I'm so sorry to hear that you've been in so much pain. Part of me feels naive writing about this when I haven't had much occasion to experience severe or chronic pain. Have you found anything good about your pain as you've recovered?
Oh yeah, I’ve found a lot good about it. I find that I get to choose how much attention I give it, now that I’ve gotten used to how loudly it calls out. I can just turn down the volume on its cries, even if I can’t turn it off. And it really has taught me an awful lot of patience, in that I accept that my body is still feeling pain even if it’s also able to go on despite the pain. I’m okay with giving it space and time. And for the most part, I just try not to talk about it, as if maybe by ignoring it I can make it disappear. Even being capable of taking these perspectives makes me feel old!!! But hey, what am I going to do, lament being in pain all the time? There’s too much good stuff to do in the world for that.
Bryan and I talked about pain a lot last year while he was going through cancer treatment. Every health care provider at every appointment asked about his pain level in a scale of 1-10. At the time, I was also dealing with severe arthritic pain in my knee that generated pain all over from how I compensated for it.
Both of us kind of shrugged it off, like, pain? What pain? We began to wonder if having “a high pain tolerance” was just code for dealing with physical and emotional bullshit our whole lives to the point where we’re numb to it.
This year I’ve tried to engage more with my pain levels, accept that my body hurts, and try different things to feel better physically. This is improvement over ignoring and pushing through.
Thanks for a thoughtful post.
It's weird how pain affects different people differently! I can ignore sinus pain pretty easily, but if I have a hangnail it's all I can think about?! Did you listen to that Invisibilia podcast? They talk about treating vs. ignoring pain. I wonder if there are merits to both approaches in different situations?
I used to be as much a skeptic of “fluffy” things as you seem to have been, but for a different reason. I identified as en engineer so if science couldn’t explain it, it wasn’t real. My divorce had me fall off that train of belief. At that time, I had an upper left shoulder pain that nagged at me for years. I always massaged it and attributed it to stress. I had anxiety too so I took meds for both. That pain miraculously disappeared post divorce, and now I realize its purpose. Whenever my truth and my life trajectory are mismatched, I get this pain. Nothing will get rid of it until I acknowledge what I’m not aligned with and ultimately change my script.
Very convenient for staying away. Very inconvenient for falling back asleep. :)
Thanks for this piece!
Difficult experiences have a way of opening us up to spiritual explanations, don't they? I've definitely felt more open to the spiritual side of things since losing my brother last year.
I think it's so cool how you were able to listen to your body and figure out what your shoulder pain meant! This is still a work in progress for me, but it's amazing to know that our bodies can guide us this way.