Dealing With Chronic Pain
What’s the key to dealing with chronic pain? Death to self! When I reached the point of death inside of me because of chronic pain, that’s when I actually came alive!
I have undergone several medical, alternative, and psychological treatments. Though totally satisfied with my standard of care and still feel deeply appreciative for my providers, my body failed to respond in a curative way. Chronic pain began its unwelcome role as my long-lasting companion. Once it overwhelmed my body and its complex nervous system, it attacked my basic emotional needs of acceptance, identity, security, and purpose.
My next attempt at dealing with chronic pain was the possibility of miraculous, spiritual healing. This option seemed very plausible since I was already a believing Christian and completely open-minded to the power of faith. Yet, through repeated attempts of coordinated prayer, the pain still persisted. Briefly, I struggled with my faith when I wasn’t healed; then afterwards, I concluded God must have had different plans for my life.
Needless to say, I felt left in a quandary. First, logical thinking and very competent medical care didn’t help me to get “out” of pain. Second, for some reason, it seemed like God had purposely kept me in the middle of hurt.
It’s ironic. Not only had I professionally dealt with chronic pain as a doctor, but now, I had to deal with it personally. It was as if the walls had collapsed on me from pain. But then I considered who better to share some of the realistic aspects about chronic suffering?
This is when my new journey began. Instead of trying to escape from pain, I changed my outlook about it. Mentally and behaviorally, I knew I had to push “through” suffering, even if I didn’t become pain-free myself. My journey uncovered priceless discoveries, ultimately pointing to the fact that spiritual richness can fight physical, mental, and emotional poverty.
You don’t have to remain “stuck” in your condition. Your dreams about freedom, despite living with chronic pain, can be realized for yourself, and positively affect those around you.
Dealing with Chronic Pain – 8 Foundational Steps
Throughout my journey of dealing with chronic pain, I discovered eight profound truths that may encourage you in your own personal trek:
1. Personally Evaluate The Nature of Your Suffering
Philosophical: I encourage you not to obsess over the medical and legal details regarding your injury. If you remain too focused on the small things, you will not appreciate the full meaning concerning your pain.
Spiritual: When you experience painful suffering, one question you may struggle with is the assumption that this must be a form of punishment for something you did wrong. It seems like your calamities are well-deserved. In actuality, you might be suffering to be stretched spiritually beyond your present capacity. J. Oswald Sanders mentions that you can emerge from your trials enriched and not impoverished. He writes, “Accidents are not accidental and adversity is not adverse…” For all of us, God’s beneficial plan applies, making good from tragedy, ill-health, bereavement and frustration.
2. Confront Your Place of Pain
Regardless of how much you physically hurt or how bad you feel emotionally, you must not be afraid to look at your experience with pain honestly. It is from this place that decisions are made. Your introspection about your pain will inevitably raise questions regarding personal ownership. Simply, do you own your pain? In other words, you must have full accountability about your distressful condition. Others will most likely fail in providing the necessary comfort and healing you desire.
3. Practice Forgiveness
Forgive your painful realities, including your past circumstances and anyone associated with your trauma(s). In order to glean any value from chronic suffering, you will have to do so in forgiveness. This process counteracts self-destructive patterns of bitterness and false perceptions of self-control. In essence, forgiveness helps you to walk in freedom, rather than stumbling over fear and self-indulgence.
4. Adapt To Your Pain
No matter the condition of your body, it still remains connected with your soul and spirit. Although you are continually aging, you have an insightful understanding about how your body responds to change, even during injury or illness. Therefore, it is important to properly adapt your ways of living to accommodate your altered physical changes. Listen to the needs of your body.
5. Consider Pain As A Gift
At first, this was hard for me to swallow; albeit, pain can draw you closer to God. It is your choice. Pain tends to stretch you in the area of spiritual growth. For me, the temporal things of life became less significant in exchange for meaningful things, like spending more intimate time with God and better loving family and others. Living with chronic pain can sharpen the skills of your heart.
6. Be Spiritually Transformed
Not everyone reading this will establish a new identity when undergoing painful suffering. But for those who do, this is actually the first place to start toward complete healing. Henri Nouwen authors a small section in his book entitled, “The Inner Voice of Love.” He presents the quintessential answer for irreversible, transformed living.
He states, “Do not despair, thinking that you cannot change yourself after so many years. Simply enter into the presence of Jesus as you are and ask him to give you a fearless heart where he can be with you. You cannot make yourself different. Jesus came to give you a new heart, a new spirit, a new mind, and a new body. Let him transform you by his love and so enable you to receive his affection in your whole being.”
7. Test Your Boundaries
The walls tend to narrow within the room of chronic pain. Activities of daily living are very limited. Fatigue can seem overwhelming. The goal of returning to work seems beyond comprehension. Because any task is monumental, your behaviors become more impulsive. All you want to do is to give your body much needed rest. Mental, emotional and physical things can be too much to bear.
I have been there. Things can seem quite restrictive. Chronic pain attempts to rob the hope of returning to a “normal life” in the future.
Regardless you will have that opportunity to take a stand against the powerful forces of pain. You must stand firm and carefully test your boundaries. For me, this was very important in the consideration of forward progress. It became imperative to move from the couch to another room, and then to start walking outdoors, and so forth. This applied in every area of my life.
You might not be able to see very far ahead, in terms of what you can do and what you can’t. Don’t look at the mountaintop and expect instant results. Start expanding your physical horizons, if possible, by taking one small step after another, beginning at the base of the mountain and steadily climbing upward. It’s possible!
8. Experience Freedom in Pain
When feeling alone and isolated, one of the things I truly craved was to be loved. Because pain tries to put you into the survival mode, in which you think of only yourself and your ability to cope, the tendency toward self-centered thinking occurs.
Two things transpired in my spiritual life to negate self-centeredness:
First, I knew I needed to have full belief in something or someone beyond myself. I needed to be fully redeemed. No longer could I deal with chronic pain based solely upon my own strength. This involved placing unwavering faith and trust in the Word of God.
Secondly, I learned to praise God during my painful trials. This voluntary act of giving praise to God during some of my darkest times enabled me to experience incredible emancipation. It provided temporary relief from pain at times, and also gave me peaceful comfort in the midst of suffering.
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