Pain

Everyone has pain. At some particular point in life or ongoing, pain has been or is present for all of us. Pain can come in a variety of forms: physical, mostly, but emotional, psychological and spiritual, too.

No one is immune.

Though physical pain is prevalent, the others can be most painful to endure. They can leave lasting scars, unseen to those around us, making the suffering a very private and personal affliction. That unseen pain, much as we try to bury it, always revisits, some with more frequency than others and often at inopportune moments.

The key in dealing with this unseen pain is controlling it, reconciling in our minds its creation, purpose and reason. Recognizing its effects and taking measures to limit it.

How do we accomplish that?

You must embrace it, absorbing the darkness that it is and find the good in it. The positive is there in the pain for us to see if we look closely. Own the pain, no matter its cause, and master it. Listen to its lessons, especially if the pain is from a past event, and learn from it. Use that painful lesson as a strengthening tool. Become better because of it and live your life. Don’t use that pain as an excuse to self-medicate or drown it with alcohol because, eventually, you’ll sober up or come down from the euphoria of drugs and the pain will still be there, waiting for your next weak moment. The cycle will repeat itself over and over, at which time the emotional, psychological and spiritual pain owns your very being.

And we must never, ever let the pain own us.