I do not like any of the categories.
My father used to say that pain was a necessary part of life. If you could feel pain you knew you were alive. I always responded the same way. "I don't need pain to let me know I'm alive, thank you." Yet pain can result in some of the most memorable experiences of our life.
I can remember with excruciating detail when I stepped on a "sixteen penny nail"...twice. Equally clear is the memory of breaking a bone in my hand. *it just dawned on me that both these injuries happened in the same year* I also remember "watching" an "eight penny nail" flip end-over-end until it reached my eye. These are just examples of physical pain, but, I can remember with crystal clarity other types of pain.
Emotional pain can be just as memorable, as can mental pain. Everyone can, I am sure, remember the pain experienced from a failed relationship. Each type of pain can consume our lives, if we let it. I can live with emotional pain. It's physical pain that I detest.
Bottom line? Pain hurts. But more importantly, it impedes us. It slows us down. I am, at the moment, shuffling about like a ninety year old in search of a walking frame. It is frustrating and...well...painful. It is also to a degree, embarrassing.
When I go to the shop for my "bits and bobs" I know I look like a decrepit old fart. I keep waiting for a boy scout to offer me a helping hand as I cross the road.
More importantly, pain is intrusive. It has taken me three days to write this blog. Why? Because I wrenched my back and knee at work. Not only has this injury kept me off work for at least a week, but, it has kept me from pursuing my passions.
So I keep taking the medication and wait impatiently for the pain to subside enough for me to go about my life normally. So if, as my dad said, pain reminds us that we are alive?
I am full of life right now.
Emotional pain can be just as memorable, as can mental pain. Everyone can, I am sure, remember the pain experienced from a failed relationship. Each type of pain can consume our lives, if we let it. I can live with emotional pain. It's physical pain that I detest.
Bottom line? Pain hurts. But more importantly, it impedes us. It slows us down. I am, at the moment, shuffling about like a ninety year old in search of a walking frame. It is frustrating and...well...painful. It is also to a degree, embarrassing.
When I go to the shop for my "bits and bobs" I know I look like a decrepit old fart. I keep waiting for a boy scout to offer me a helping hand as I cross the road.
More importantly, pain is intrusive. It has taken me three days to write this blog. Why? Because I wrenched my back and knee at work. Not only has this injury kept me off work for at least a week, but, it has kept me from pursuing my passions.
So I keep taking the medication and wait impatiently for the pain to subside enough for me to go about my life normally. So if, as my dad said, pain reminds us that we are alive?
I am full of life right now.
Michael, if you don't mind me asking, what is your occupation?
ReplyDeleteI know this may sound a bit odd, but I've always saw all types of pain as interconnected, and not in like some metaphysical sense, but actually interconnected. Great post about a tough subject.
ReplyDelete