When pain shows up – what do you do?
There are typically two “camps” people fall into when pain comes knocking:
Conquering the pain with the tactics mentioned above and shrinking your world only “work” for so long though.
When you use the conquer technique, you may end up severely injured because you ignored early warning signs (when you could have easily healed a minor injury and prevented a major one), or you could even develop some an autoimmune condition through these strategies of numbing/enduring pain.
What happens in the long run is really dependent on your history of trauma, your pain psychology, your mindset, subconscious beliefs and physical health.
When you shrink your world, you adopt a belief that pain is to be avoided and this can insidiously creep into the rest of your life too.
I’m speaking from experience here; I shrank my world for 6 years in my late teens and twenties due to my fear of physical and emotional pain. I stopped running first, then stopped hiking, stopped crying or feeling much of anything and became very numb to life. When I finally started feeling again, it was a tsunami of pain because I had a lot of catching up to do. Trust me – it’s better to just feel it in the moment.
There’s a third option that will not only help you lose your fear of pain, but help you lose the pain far faster than either of the options above.
Curiosity can “cure” most pain, in the sense that you can discover the root cause, give your body what it needs and move on with your life pretty quickly.
When your body gives you pain, it’s not for no reason; your body doesn’t hate you, it’s not betraying you or trying to irritate you.
When your body gives you pain, it has sensed that something is wrong and it’s asking for your attention. The faster you give your attention – hopefully through curiosity – the faster you can get out of pain and feel less of it.
I’ve discovered from personal experience and working with people in pain since 2008 that pain is only scary when we don’t understand it or know what to do about it.
Here’s my recommended “formula” for losing your fear of pain:
Deep in the wilderness of the Teton Mountains, July 7th 2014…this day is forever ingrained in my memory, because that’s the day I realized deep in my bones and my heart that my lifelong fear of pain was GONE. Not just temporarily gone because I wasn’t feeling pain, no; the fear was utterly, totally BANISHED from my being and I knew I’d never feel it again. No pain scared me any longer; not mine or yours or anyone’s.
I was hiking alone in the wilderness when the realization hit me, and I was so overcome with gratitude that I fell to my knees and cried. True story. I had spent a lifetime filled with pain, intensely afraid that it would swallow me whole and I’d never know joy, or peace or freedom.
At age 33 I found freedom from the fear of pain, which (in my experience) is more liberating than freedom from pain itself. You can banish pain a lot of different ways, but the fear of it can take root and grow and infest your mindset from the inside out. Ironically – the less you fear pain, the less of it you feel.
That same year – 2014 – I decided it was time to go online and share everything I’d learned about pain and freedom, and Mobility Mastery was born that fall.
My mission with Mobility Mastery from the day I started it was to first and foremost help you learn to trust your body and lose your fear of pain.
I hope this video and blog can help you make headway towards that goal.
XO
Elisha
* Disclaimer: The contents of this blog and accompanying YouTube channel are for informational purposes only and do not render medical or psychological advice, opinion, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided through this website is expressly the opinions of each author and should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease. This is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a medical or psychological problem, you should consult your appropriate health care provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. Links on this website are provided only as an informational resource, and it should not be implied that we recommend, endorse or approve of any of the content at the linked sites, nor are we responsible for their availability, accuracy or content.
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