Pain Management

To say life is hard is an understatement.  To say it’s brutal at times comes closer but still is not a great description.  Many are stalked by physical pain.  Medication can minimize those pains while healing takes place.

The more troubling pains are the “heart” pains.  Those for which there is no antidote and sometimes even time only blunts the affect.  The scar is permanent and the memory is haunting.

We have only two choices:  “Get busy living or get busy dying.”  Hurting people will always hurt others.  That is not much solace when you are the one who has been hurt.  I have no wisdom to pass on this issue.  Sometimes the best you can do, is the best you can do.  The key is to keep moving forward.  It hurts, it’s hard but it is really the only viable option.  Start walking.

A Rough Spot

I love hiking.  It’s one of my passions.  There are some trails and some portions of others that I don’t like.  Actually, I cringe when I get there and if not for the destination, I wouldn’t hike them.  It’s that bad.

Life is like a trail sometimes.  Quite honestly, there are times I want to get off the path. One side promises jagged, almost vertical rock wall.  The other side hosts a deep gorge, with an uncertain stopping point.  Ahead lies more pain but promises unparalleled views.  Options are limited.  Resources are nearly exhausted and desire is gone.  What compelled me to come?  I’m spent.  I want off.  I’m hurt and tired beyond description

Pride will not let me quit and fear will not let me waver.  The bit of passion I have left keeps pushing me forward, fueled by the unquenchable thirst to know what lies ahead.  I draw on the last of my stores to complete my trek.  I punish my soul, one agonizing step after the other.  To give up is to die.  In the immortal words of Sir Winston Chuchill, “Never give up.  Never.”

Avoid or Attack?

Some things in life should be avoided at all costs, but very few.  A bear encounter might fall into that category (see last weeks post, Bear Encounter).  ALWAYS avoid, especially if your are on a bicycle.  Other situations should be attacked.  The trick is discerning which is which.

Many people treat all of life like a bear encounter.  They are so afraid to live, working a job they loathe and live for Friday.  On Friday night, they celebrate, (read party) as though they’ve done something worth celebrating by showing up to work for five days straight.  By any measure, that is not a cause for a celebration.  A job is not something to be avoided, but attacked.  Give your best should never be optional.

Much celebration is little more than masked avoidance.  We don’t like the hand we’ve been dealt, so we “mask” the pain our poison of choice.  The problem with that thinking is simple:  It’s temporary.  Allow me to suggestion a more profitable and permanent solution.  Instead of avoiding, attack.  You may discover a more permanent fix to temporarily avoiding the pain.

The bonus comes when you pause to see where you are.  The progress you’ve made for the effort you’ve given may provide you a “high” like none you’ve ever experienced before.  There is something quite intoxicating about effort and reward.  You may find yourself breaking into a little victory dance.  Party on!

It’s About You

When it all comes down to it, it all comes down to you.  I came across a couple of funny, but true quotes.  The first said, “Of course I talk to myself.  Sometimes, I need expert advice.”  The other was credited to Maya Angelou and says simply, “I got my own back.”

Although, none of us are the Lone Ranger, the truths in these two statements are undeniable.  If you do not believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else to believe in you?  At some point, you have to pack your own chute.  Don’t be afraid to stand on your own, to stand alone if necessary.  Don’t back up from what you know to be true, especially about you.

Confidence buffered with compassion is a powerful force.  As Polonius said in “Hamlet”, “To thine own self be true…”  Know well your strengths and weaknesses.  In so doing you will be a help to yourself and to others.  We need your talents and your gifts in the making of more “faithful men”.

What Are You Doing?

I always hated that question.  Not so much the question as the tone that accompanied it and generally the situation.  Did it ever happen to you?  Usually, asked by one parent or the other when you were involved in something that at best was edgy and at worse was wrong and you knew it.

In my case, it was rhetorical.  It always involved some failure on my part.  My heart would begin to race, my hands get sweaty and my mind become like scrambled eggs.

I want to encourage you to turn the question on yourself.  Not for the “gotcha” factor, but for some introspection.  Are you doing what you should do? What you want to do? What you were created to do?

When we take a job with someone else, we instantly put on the “golden handcuffs” of the  job.  Regular pay, benefits, maybe even a company car.  Now, we’re stuck.  Just look at what we’d have to give up.  And the reality is, we give up a little more or ourselves each day.  One more day or one less, depending on how you view it.  A friend of my recently reminded me how short life is.  So true.

So, what are you doing?  More importantly, what are you GOING to do?  You’d better get started.  Time is running out.