Like most people my age, particularly those who have been physically active for a long time, I’ve had LOTS of injuries over the years — severely sprained ankles, calf muscle tear, torn ligaments in both knees, bad back, fractured ribs, partially dislocated shoulders, busted fingers, torn trapezius muscle, broken nose…and probably some other stuff long forgotten (hmmm, maybe a concussion?). Every morning welcomes me with at least a little reminder of a “life well lived”, even on my best day.
Earlier this week, I “re-tweaked” an injury sustained a couple of weeks ago during a workout. As much as we dislike getting hurt, it’s almost worse to have taken the time to “get better” and then end up right back at square one. It feels like time wasted and it fills us with an uncertainty about the future, the possibility of having to give up aspects of who we think we are, the identity that we portray to the world, and activities that bring us joy and reward.
Of course pain — an unpleasant feeling that is conveyed to the brain by sensory neurons — can be more than just physical. One definition of pain is “an unpleasant sensory AND emotional experience that is associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in such terms.”(1) A key feature of this definition, the authors go on to say, is that “pain is always subjective.” It’s not to say that the pain that we feel, in all of its forms, isn’t real but that its effect on us depends on how we interpret, accept, and deal with it.
As Haruki Murakami, the author of What I Talk about When I Talk About Running says:
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore.’ The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.”
Pain has rewarded me this week. I’ve discovered that, while it can evoke memories of times we’d certainly like to forget, pain can also open the door to remembering long forgotten victories, moments of true brotherhood, and times when our bodies and minds were in perfect harmony. Maybe pain can be useful because it acts as a signal to stop or move on or adjust, a guide to keep us in a wide “swim lane” appropriate to our age, fitness, and capabilities. And that makes it worth paying attention to.
(1) Developed by a taxonomy task force of the International Association for the Study of Pain
Here are three things to think about, check out, or do to manage, accept, and eliminate pain this week:
1). From the legendary author and theologian C.S. Lewis:
“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (C.S. Lewis)
What pain insists on being attended to today? Examine the effect that it’s having on your life. What’s one thing you could do right now that would change how you deal with it for the better?
2). Here are some useful things that you can do to manage your tolerance for physical pain:
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-manage-your-tolerance-for-physical-pain-1689263947
3). Check out this story from Outside Magazine about alpinist and National Geographic photographer Cory Richards who continues his quest to manage pain of all kinds:
https://www.outsideonline.com/2234616/life-after-near-death-cory-richards
The article mentions a technique called Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, “a form of therapy that at its most basic involves following a finger or sound from side to side while discussing a traumatic memory. Doing so helps the nervous system integrate the event and make sense of it, proponents say, so it stops haunting the patient.”
This was the first time that I’ve heard of EMDR so I can’t vouch for its efficacy and, hopefully, your kind of pain doesn’t require that kind of intervention. But if you want to learn more, here’s a useful link: http://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/
For more inspiration and information, check out the In Search of Lost Mojo podcast show where I interview world-class athletes, adrenaline-addicted adventurers, and audacious achievers from ages 50 to 150, as well as globally-renowned experts in human performance and longevity, to figure out how to put an end to “old” → www.timzak.com/podcast
[Originally Posted: August 26, 2017]
