Answer Summary
Members shared deeply personal and creative ways they find joy while living with chronic pain, with a strong emphasis on retraining the mind... Read more
Lore, I have a granddaughter now and she gives me the greatest joy. It doesn’t mean I don’t have pain when I’m with her. It gives me something to look forward to. I have an amazing son and daughter in law, my husband is wonderful as well. I try to enjoy them when I can and try to adjust my activities when needed to be able to find the joy. It’s little steps everyday. I’ll admit it’s extremely difficult to have pain and do things but I push myself when I can. Hang in there. Sometimes the joy is just being able to do the little things and I do mean little. Just getting up somedays or just being able to laundry or load the dishwasher. ❤️
I agree with Tandyloo. It's not easy to find joy in life when you're in pain, but learning to focus on things that can bring you some happiness like being with the ones you love, completing small tasks,watching a good movie or reading a good book, etc. Sometimes it's possible to block out the pain, even if it's only for a short time. Our minds will give us a break when we're concentrating on somethings that make us happy. When that happens, we usually don't realize that our pain actually fades into the background for a few precious moments. We just have to do the best we can to bring joy into our lives. We are warriors and deserve some joy , but in our case we have to learn how to seek it even thru the pain. Our fibro minds are complicated and so are our lives, but somehow we learn to push thru it all in our own way. We're here for you,Lore. Take care. A warm hug to you.
All I can say is that when I was in the throws of fibro...not getting out of bed at all, I used to think about all the things I couldn't do. One day, I started to count all the things I could do or might be able to do. Slowly, I was getting out of bed, doing some things around the house, started walking...sometimes for 10 minutes. For me, I think it was my mindset. I have said before that I don't think my pain is as bad as others but its still chronic pain. All I can say is we started traveling again, first to places we could drive to and then eventually, back to our beloved Maui. I hope you can find a way to have the best life you can.
@A MyFibroTeam Member that’s exactly right! If you focus on the things you can’t do, the body responds to that. I feel it just pulls you down deeper into the abyss. When you start focusing on the positive things in life, and the things you know you are able to do, you find that there’s more that you can do than you originally thought. Sometimes it’s just taking some baby steps and doing even one small thing that you didn’t do the day before. I found that keeping my brain active with something helps me push beyond the pain. I don’t notice it as much. It’s definitely still there, but the brain doesn’t push it to the front anymore. This may sound funny, but establishing a relationship with your brain can help. Give it a name, like Agnes, and then say, “Hey Agnes, you are getting to rowdy in there. It’s time to settle down and maybe take a nap”. 😂 It’s all about refocusing your attention and retraining the way your brain works.
@A MyFibroTeam Member I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said. I agree with focusing on the small sources of joy and things you are able to do. I've heard it said that in the end, the small things are what matter most, they are what make a complete life ❤️.