Such a great post. Chronic Migraine has changed me in such a way that I don’t know if I will ever be able to be the same person I was before. Even if things got better, I think I would always live with the fear it would return. Pain has made me into a broken human.
Thank you. You’re right, you may never be the same. But broken isn’t the end of your story. The question is whether you fill the cracks with lead or gold. (And based on the work you’re doing here, I’d say it’s gold.)
I love this! I don’t struggle with chronic pain but can relate in a similar way of navigating illness. The pain that’s surfaced during my journey can’t be destroyed, like you said, but instead I’ve tried finding ways to transform or alchemize that pain into something else. So that it finds another form or has another place to live outside of myself.
I appreciate how you blend the clinical and the human pieces of health and healing. This is where we should be going.
The piece was a very interesting read -that chronic pain cannot simply be “cured” or erased, only transformed. The argument that pain is a force or form of energy that moves through people, reshaping bodies, identities, relationships, and beliefs ... on a personal level I would say that’s accurate.
Such a great post. Chronic Migraine has changed me in such a way that I don’t know if I will ever be able to be the same person I was before. Even if things got better, I think I would always live with the fear it would return. Pain has made me into a broken human.
Thank you. You’re right, you may never be the same. But broken isn’t the end of your story. The question is whether you fill the cracks with lead or gold. (And based on the work you’re doing here, I’d say it’s gold.)
I love this! I don’t struggle with chronic pain but can relate in a similar way of navigating illness. The pain that’s surfaced during my journey can’t be destroyed, like you said, but instead I’ve tried finding ways to transform or alchemize that pain into something else. So that it finds another form or has another place to live outside of myself.
I appreciate how you blend the clinical and the human pieces of health and healing. This is where we should be going.
The piece was a very interesting read -that chronic pain cannot simply be “cured” or erased, only transformed. The argument that pain is a force or form of energy that moves through people, reshaping bodies, identities, relationships, and beliefs ... on a personal level I would say that’s accurate.
Thank you for reading so thoughtfully. It means a great deal to hear this resonated with you.
Yes one of the toughest lessons in chronic pain management is learning how to make space for pain instead of shrinking around it.
It is a bit like teaching a fire alarm to tolerate smoke because the building never stops burning.
Every instinct in the system knows this is wrong.
"How can you tell me to just let it burn?"
But it is a necessary step. You need to learn how to survive burning and the constant noise around it doesn’t help.
I’m really loving your essays. Keep it up!
Thank you 🙂