Keeping A Psychological Advantage

 

I have always known that one of the essential keys toward a successful battle against my injuries has been the ability to maintain a strong mental attitude. I’ve had to fight against a damaged body by looking past the circumstances and determining to take each day as it comes without allowing myself to wallow in self-pity or fall to carnal weakness. It is odd to think of how normal a damaged body can seem to me after so long a period of time, but the truth remains that the personal ability to adapt and endure has been essential for a successful recovery. I have found that the term “recovery” often involves the ability to live life while enjoying every day as a gift beyond challenges and hardships, but it doesn’t necessarily define the full extent of my physical condition.

There is a bit of a strategy that I have used against my mind when fighting this battle toward physical wellness. When I first came home from the hospital certain doctors expressed a degree of concern regarding my level of injuries and the pain that I would be facing, and I was consequently prescribed a couple of different pain medications. They weren’t particularly strong pain killers, but they were somewhat stronger than over the counter pain meds. I didn’t take them often, but over time my wife made certain to fill every prescription in order to be certain of the availability at home in case things became worse. The result was about five prescription bottles with a few hundred combined pain pills. I really don’t like to fill my body with chemicals, so for the most part I tolerated the pain and avoided the pills.

After a few years I knew that the pills were well past their expiration date (hey, does it really matter that much or is it a ploy by the pharmaceutical companies to sell more product? The world may never know…). I determined to keep two pills and properly discarded the rest of them. The two pain pills sit on my dresser in my bedroom. I sometimes take them to church services in the front pocket of my pants. I take them with me exclusively when going to the services because worship services are the only events that I really care about regarding the distraction of pain. The thing is that I walk a lot and use a great deal of my energy when conducting the worship services, and it often hurts within the more damaged parts of my body. This can be a real hindrance to what I am doing and the pills in my pocket allow for a mental “backup”. They are theoretically there in case I should experience too much pain, although the rational side of me knows that I will never actually ingest them.  At this point they are getting so old that they might actually be able to serve as rat poison, should the need arise. The pain, however, never really hinders me because in my mind I am able to rely on the fact that I have something in my pocket that can counteract the pain and allow me to continue in the things that I must do. It may seem a bit silly, but those goofy pills have often given me the ability to ignore most levels of pain and feel as though the hurt within my body does not possess the ability to win. The battle isn’t always just physical.