Pain

The longer I live, the more I realize everyone is dealing with our friendly, ride-along, Pain. It is not something we enjoy, but some of us have learned to deal with It.  I have tried to decide whether It is female or male, but have determined not to assign It a sexual connotation. That sounds wrong.  Kind of like people giving cars or boats a name like Betty or Jane.  I can't seem to give the neuropthy in my legs a name like Joe or Samantha or something normal sounding like that.  So it remains It.

Pain and people's way of handling It, whether physical or mental, got me pondering in great depths this week  So much so, I had to write this up in my blog.  It saddened me in someways on how It is dealt with by all.

As kids, we don't really handle It well.  But, I think even then, there are differences.  I remember my youngest brother was one who would milk every illness or injury for all it was worth.  He would sit on the couch and act like the world was ending, even if he had the littlest of colds.  He would drive everyone crazy with his panting and wheezing, pouting and whining.  My son was the same way.  I dreaded him getting sick, which was often.  And, he did break body parts and had It a lot in his life, so I heard him many times.

Thank goodness this changed as both boys grew older and learned to tolerate things more.  Or maybe it was the lack of patience from family members?  Hmmm....

My son came home from school last with news that led me thinking about It.  A friend of his had passed away, and all this week, I was thinking on the Pain his family must be going through. Then, I was visiting with a friend who has been suffering with back pain caused by a surgery gone wrong. I see her out in the summer working on her roses  slowly walking from bush to bush pruning and weeding each one with loving care.  And when I don't see her in church, I know it is because It has become too unbearable to sit on the padded pews for the allotted time of the meetings.

How many of us have It to deal with each day of our lives?  And how do we handle the It we have? Are we like little kids who cry and whine for attention or do we bravely handle what we have to bare?

My sister-in-law shared with me how one of her friends handles It, and I was pretty amazed.  It kind of made me want to be better about how I handled the Pain I had to bare, whether it is physical or mental.  This friend  has Crohn's disease.  Symptoms are abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, intestinal bleeding, rectal pain, and the list goes on. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104/DSECTION=symptoms   Anyway, her It is immense.  My s-i-l told me her friend gets up on her worst days and fixes herself up beautifully so the whole world will not know her It and goes out with a smile.  She says doing this is hard to do, but that way she is not at home feeling sorry for herself and dwelling on It.


That got me thinking about my life when my s-i-l shared this with me.  I started doing this a bit more and it did make me stop thinking about my It a little less.  I don't always forget.  Sometimes this is hard to do, but I feel I can move on and work on other things in my life.  And maybe that is why my friend has fantastic roses.  So as I was thinking this week of ways I deal with It, I would like others out there to share your ways.  Please post your ways.  Help me and help others.  We can all use a bit of cheer now and then.  No one has the right answer except maybe God for those of us who believe in Him.

Let us reach out and help out all of us who deal with It--religious or non-religious; even if you may think it is silly.  I want to know how you deal with your Pain.