All tagged Dealing with Pain
As we approach Thanksgiving 2021, how are you feeling?
Hopeful? Anxious? Excited? Sad?
Maybe some of you are seeing family members you haven’t seen in a long, long time, and so your heart is filled with a sense of fullness of finally being able to sit around the table together again.
Perhaps others of you are missing the company of loved ones this holiday – whether separated by actual death, geographical distance, or ideological disagreements.
I hopped on my road bike yesterday for the first time in about a year.
The last time I rode it was shortly before I ruptured my Achilles – an injury that is nearly a year in the recovery process, and still not where I would like it to be.
Now, full disclosure, the picture shown above was taken during my glory days on that bike. She and I (the bike, that is) would travel all over the local roads together, climbing mountains, enjoying views, speeding down descents. That bike and I have enjoyed thousands and thousands of miles of blissful togetherness.
And then, with one loud snap of the Achilles, it all came to a screeching halt.
This weekend, I attended a funeral service for a child who never got the chance to take her first breath. She was near full-term, but never got the chance to meet her parents or her grandparents. She will never get to see a sunrise, experience laughter, or have her feet tickled while she giggles.
Now, I know a common question is: Why would God allow something like this to happen?
Dealing with an injury is more complicated than it might seem from the outside looking in. Little things that I took for granted just a week ago require a tremendous amount of effort. I often find myself tired and sweaty just from something as basic as getting dressed.
I’m suddenly very appreciative when people hold the door open for me.
When they do, I feel slightly ashamed because I know I’m capable of opening it for myself, and I don’t really need their help.
I’ve found I have two gods: Comfort and Productivity.
Comfort often takes the form of fun and pleasure, while Productivity is often masked as efficiency.
A few days ago, those gods were exposed in a single, painful act: while playing basketball with some friends, I felt something hit the back of my leg, just below the calf. Simultaneously, a loud sound, similar to that of a softball hitting a wooden wall, emitted from the same spot on my leg.
In mid-crumpling action, I glanced behind me to see what hit me, and when I realized nobody and nothing, was there, I immediately knew: the Achilles tendon had just ruptured.
I’ve been reading a book about different personality types, and my particular type, it turns out, tries to avoid pain at all costs.
Now, I get that it’s human nature to avoid pain, but apparently people with my personality type will go to nearly superhuman lengths to avoid it. It seems that pain is something that is particularly difficult for someone with my makeup to deal with.
And since God isn’t really interested in stagnant character development… the past 11 months have been some of the most difficult of my life.
