Weigh On Down

Trey Smith

For those of you who live with chronic pain, this post will in no way provide any sort of revelation. You know as well as I do that one of the great challenges to life is staying upbeat. Constant pain has a way of wearing you down; it is a weight that is seldom relieved.

Our mind and bodies feed off of each other. When the former is bound up in tension and anxiety, we often suffer physically. It is just as true the other way around. When our body is wracked with pain, it can disturb the mind.

Part of the problem is that we feel like a shell of our former selves. Many of us can remember times -- some not that long ago -- when we were more active. We can recall times when gardening, cooking, helping a neighbor with a strenuous project or playing with the grandkids was easily within our reach. We can remember when getting out of bed, dressing ourselves or bathing was a run-of-the-mill activity.

Chronic pain, particularly the kind that grows progressively worse, robs us of our ability to be independent actors. We are forced to rely on others more, even to perform once routine tasks. After a while, it's hard not to feel that we've become a burden to our friends and family.

And so, it's a constant struggle to keep ourselves from falling into depression. It's a constant fight not to throw up our hands and wave the final white flag.