The Lesson of Pain

I've been going to the gym again for almost 3 weeks now. I go because I know my body needs exercise. I like the feeling to taking deep, purifying breaths. I don't mind getting sweaty and smelly. I've learned to not worry about what other people are doing or what they think about what I'm doing. I don't mind the feeling of sore muscles in the morning since those are reminders that I'm accomplishing something. What I absolutely HATE is pain....and more often than not, this is what keeps me away from the gym.

I tend to have a very low pain tolerance. As soon as something begins to hurt, I'm going to stop doing whatever is causing the pain. Thankfully I'm fairly certain that I've learned the difference between discomfort and pain. Discomfort is inconvenient and not a great feeling, but it's something that I can push through and know that I'm not damaging my body. Pain is the body's signal that something is potentially wrong and needs attention.

As I write today, I'm sitting here with knees that are making walking difficult and problems with my lower back. Every day in the gym leads to some level of discomfort in these parts of my body. Today I made it to the gym on my off day and started working out when the pain hit in my left knee. I tried to push through it until I clearly understood my body's message.....STOP DOING THAT TODAY OR ELSE!

Pain comes to us emotionally and spiritually as well. While the physical expression of pain is hard to ignore, sometimes we push down agonizing pain that lies deep inside our spirit. I have learned over the past few months that we can use some of the same tactics we use for our body's pains to heal the hurts in our emotions and spirit.

• Acknowledge and assess the pain. One of the first things we have to do is admit that we're hurting. Too often we fall for the lie that the strong ignore their pain and convince themselves that it will eventually disappear if they don't acknowledge it. Nothing is further from the truth. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually, it is essential that we admit when we are suffering and honestly assess its severity. Is this something I can just walk off or do I need to allow myself to experience intense healing?
• Determine the cause of the pain. Recently while on the treadmill I began to experience pain in my left leg. Rather than stopping immediately, I tried to identify where the pain was and what was causing the problem. This was the first step in adjusting my form and finding relief. The same is true of our emotional pain. Once we acknowledge our pain, it is important that we attempt to figure out where the pain is coming from. This allows us to modify behavior and responses in order to stop the pain from increasing.
• Ask for input. I couldn't determine what the problem was on the treadmill, so I asked my trainer if he saw anything awkward in my work. This required me openly admitting to another person where I was hurting and allowing them to provide constructive criticism in order to alleviate the hurt. Sometimes it may be helpful to share our emotional and spiritual pain with a trusted friend and ask them to observe you and see if they notice anything you are doing to bring the pain into your life. Objective observers can often see things that we are not aware of.
• Remove the source of pain. My knee problems were associated with speed on the treadmill. Similar speeds on the elliptical and inclines on the treadmill at slower tempo did not cause pain and still accomplished raising my heart rate. Rather than allowing myself to continue experiencing pain, we eliminated the part of the routine that was causing the problem. Emotionally, we may identify that our pain source is a specific activity, relationship, or past memory. When possible, separating ourselves from the pain inducer is the first step to recovery.
• Rest! Pain doesn't totally go away until the problem has been healed. Do I really think that I could resume my work on the treadmill the next day without any pain? Absolutely not! My body needed time to recover. We understand that rest and recovery is essential to our physical body. We are often negligent when it comes to allowing our emotions and spirit to rest as well after we've been hurt. Foolishly, we often jump right back into the same circumstances much too soon when we've been hurt. The result to our spirit is similar to what would happen to our body. We re-injure ourselves, the damage and pain is more severe, and the required recovery time is much more extensive. 

I've gone through the first four steps of dealing with emotional pain this year; I'm still taking my time through the resting stage. I'm not going to rush it and I'm not going to get comfortable in it either. I'm looking forward to the day that my spirit and emotions are fully restored so I can once again dive in without fear of being hurt and suffering from debilitating emotional pain.