When you live with chronic pain, you are in pain all the time and don’t get a break from it, but not every day is going to be a bad day. You have good days when your pain is bearable and bad days when getting up to go to the bathroom feels like it should be considered exercise. On good days, you are in good spirits because you can do more, but on bad days, you are stuck in bed praying that the pain will end soon. You have more negative thoughts on bad days and often are in a very dark place and struggling with your mental health. People with chronic pain are not going to be happy on bad days and will likely have a very negative mindset, and that is okay because you don’t need to be positive all the time. Sometimes we need reminders to get through the tough days because people with chronic pain tend to be hard on themselves. In this post, I am sharing a few things you need to remind yourself of when you are having a bad pain day.
Pain is not your fault– On good pain days, you feel good about yourself, but on bad days, you are not in a good place and have all kinds of negative thoughts. People with chronic pain sometimes blame themselves for their pain and convince themselves that if they ate a little healthier or exercised more, they wouldn’t be in pain. If you find yourself getting angry on bad days and blaming yourself for the pain, it is so important that you give yourself reminders that pain is not your fault. There are a lot of medical conditions that cause a lot of chronic pain that you could not have prevented because doctors don’t know the cause. You will make the bad days feel even harder when you have a lot of guilt and are constantly blaming yourself for your chronic pain. Pain is not your fault because you can be doing everything right and still have days when your pain is unbearable. You do what you can to have more good days than bad ones, but you are not in complete control of your pain.
It’s okay if you are feeling negative- When you are struggling with chronic pain, sometimes you are hesitant to complain about anything because people often will say, “You need to see the bright side of things and be more positive.” Most people mean well when they tell someone to be positive and don’t realize that comment is very dismissive of the way someone is feeling and does more harm than good. Positivity can help people in pain cope, but it is okay if you have days when you have negative thoughts because I don’t know a single person who is positive all the time. On bad days, sometimes people make you feel guilty for having negative thoughts, and it is so important to remind yourself that it is okay to have negative thoughts sometimes. Everyone has negative thoughts sometimes, and that is not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just part of being human. You don’t have to force yourself to be positive on bad days, and sometimes it’s better to recognize your negative thoughts than to try and make everything positive.
Rest is not laziness but a form of self-care- When you are struggling with chronic pain, it is almost impossible to do anything productive because your pain is making everyday tasks ten times harder. It can be hard for people with chronic pain to rest because you have so much stuff to do, and sometimes you feel like you are being lazy. Rest is necessary for people with chronic pain because if you don’t listen to your body and push through elevated pain levels, it will make everything worse. People with chronic pain often have to rest more than people without chronic pain, and it is so important that we don’t view resting as laziness but it’s a form of self-care. Pushing through pain is not like pushing through a tough workout and should not be worn like a badge of honor because nothing good comes from ignoring your body. Pain flares are often unpredictable, and it is okay if you have to skip a workout to rest.
Pain doesn’t make you weak but it makes you strong– When you live with chronic pain and are having a bad day, sometimes it makes us feel weak. It is so important that we remind ourselves that pain doesn’t make you weak but makes you strong. You are dealing with pain that most people couldn’t even begin to understand, and that takes a lot of strength. Chronic pain doesn’t make you weak, but it makes you strong because it takes an incredible amount of strength to get through the hard days.
Your pain is real even if people can’t see it- Chronic pain is often invisible, and people with it are often told that their pain is not real and is just anxiety. If your pain is dismissed enough times, sometimes people start to doubt their pain levels and convince themselves that the pain is not that bad and is probably just stress. Bad days are hard, and not everyone is going to believe your pain, and it is so important that you don’t gaslight yourself into thinking your pain is not real. People with chronic pain become experts at hiding pain, but even though someone doesn’t look like they are in pain, that doesn’t mean they are not. It is not your job to convince people that your pain is real, and the only time you may need to do that is if you are at the doctor and need pain relief. You should always remind yourself that you aren’t imagining being in pain, especially on hard days.
Bad days come to an end– Chronic pain never truly goes away, and people with chronic pain are in pain all the time, but flares do eventually come to an end, and you get back to baseline. On bad pain days, I often struggle with my mental health, and I try to remind myself that flares don’t last forever and do come to an end. Sometimes my pain levels will be elevated for weeks at a time, and it feels like it’s never going to end, but it always does.
Bad pain days with chronic pain are hard, and it is easy to get in a negative mindset and blame yourself because people in pain are not going to be happy during a flare. Chronic pain is unpredictable, and you can be doing everything right and still have bad days because sometimes you don’t know what caused your pain to worsen. There are a lot of things in life, such as weather changes, that can flare chronic pain that you cannot control. Be kind to yourself on bad days, and if you notice that you are blaming yourself for the pain, give yourself some reminders that pain is not your fault. Bad pain days are often unavoidable and will be a whole lot harder when you have a lot of guilt. Focus on self-care on the hard days and find things that will make the hard days a little more bearable. What do you tell yourself on bad pain days? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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