Lessons I Have Learned From Living With Pain

If you weren’t already aware, September is Chronic Pain Awareness Month! Chronic pain is frustrating to live with because the constant pain significantly affects your quality of life and people often don’t believe pain that they cannot see. You have to constantly advocate for yourself to educate others because when it comes to pain, there is so much stigma that is hurting pain patients. I have lived with chronic pain for a couple of years for a multitude of reasons, and although it is frustrating most of the time, I have learned a lot of life lessons from my pain. Pain changes a person because it forces you to look at life in a completely different way, which isn’t necessarily always a bad thing, but sometimes it changes you for the better. People often only see the bad parts of pain and forget about the lessons you learn from it and the relationships you build because of pain. What lessons can you learn from living with chronic pain? In this post, I am going to talk about a few life lessons that I have learned from living with constant pain.

Rest is not laziness- People often have a hard taking a rest day because it is often seen as laziness and sometimes people think that they always have to be doing something productive but when you live with pain, resting is not a choice. Before I lived with chronic pain, I struggled with taking rest days because, like most people, I viewed it as laziness, and one of the most important lessons that my pain has taught me is that resting is not laziness and it’s a form of self-care. I don’t have as much energy as someone without pain, and resting is not always optional but sometimes it is necessary to feel better. Pain teaches you the importance of rest and it took me a while to unlearn the common belief that resting is laziness and at first, I felt guilty for needing a rest on day in the middle of the week. It wasn’t until I realized that it is okay to have days when you do absolutely nothing and I don’t think I would have ever learned that important lesson if I didn’t live with pain.

Some people aren’t going to believe you- When you live with chronic pain sometimes it can be difficult to get people to believe you because pain is not always visible and it is often believed that everyone with severe pain cries endlessly. Some people are not going to believe pain they cannot see and that is okay because it’s not your job to convince people that your pain is real. Pain has taught me to not care what people think because even though you don’t think my pain is real, that doesn’t make my struggles any less valid. When you live with pain or any disability, it teaches to not care what people think because people are going to have their opinions on your disability and there is nothing you can do to change that. If you take every negative comment personally, your mental health will be negatively affected, and you have to learn that some people lack understanding and not to let negative comments get underneath your skin. My disability has taught me to not care what people think which is something I think a lot of non-disabled people struggle with.

Fatigue from pain is a different kind of fatigue– People often think that they can relate to fatigue from pain because they had a long day at work, but fatigue from pain is not the same thing. Before I lived with pain, I probably would have also thought that all types of fatigue are the same and if there is anything that my pain has taught me, it’s that fatigue from pain is a different kind of fatigue that you will never understand without living with pain. People who are fatigued from pain don’t have the energy to do basic tasks because moving can feel like a chore, and you can’t sleep it off like you can if you have a long work day. If there is anything that my pain has taught me it’s that some people will think they can relate to your pain because they had a long day and there is nothing you can do to change their mind but only people who truly live with pain will understand that pain fatigue is not the same and I would argue it’s worse.

You are more understanding– Chronic pain sufferers and disabled people in general often are more understanding of medical conditions than people without health issues because we know what it feels like to not be believed. You won’t hear a lot of people in pain accusing total strangers who don’t look disabled of being a faker, but you hear people without disabilities saying these things all the time. Disabled people are some of the most understanding people you are ever going to meet because although I might not be able to relate to every disability, I do know how hard it is to be disabled and won’t make people who struggle less than me feel like a lesser human being. Pain teaches you to be more understanding and to not judge a disability you have never experienced.

Some things in life you can’t control- Non-disabled people sometimes will say that there are some things in life that you cannot control, but still sometimes get upset over things out of their control, and don’t put that mindset into practice by any means. When you live with pain or are disabled in general, it forces you to learn what it means to let go of things that are beyond your control, because it is hard to be disabled and sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to. My disability has taught me to learn to let go of things beyond my control because you can’t beat yourself up for every single challenge you face in life.

When you live with pain, it is frustrating because you can’t do things at the capacity people without pain can, but it does teach you a lot of important life lessons that some people will never learn. People sometimes struggle to see the impact pain has on your life, but when you live with pain you can truly understand that there is more to pain than the physical aspects of it, and your mental health can also take a hit. Pain has more negatives than positives, but it changes a person because you are not the same person you were before pain. People sometimes complain a lot and take little things for granted, but when you live with pain, it teaches you to appreciate the little things because you never realize how much of a privilege something is until you aren’t able to do that task anymore. People without pain complain about how difficult it is to take care of themselves while people with pain just want their health back. Never take good health for granted because it can be taken from you in an instant. What lessons have you learned from pain? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.

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