1% Thursday: Roll the Stone

So you have to move a huge round stone a mile.  How should you do it?  You can pick it up and carry it, of course.  You might end up with permanent back pain, but you could do it.  Or, you could roll it.  Which would you do?

The symptoms of cluster, chronic headache, and migraine, are that rock.  There are certain things you can do to minimize the symptoms, of course.  But today we’re talking about managing the symptoms.  And sometimes we carry them like a burden instead of rolling them.

We’re talking about a change of attitude.  No, I’m not saying attitude is causing your pain, and I’m not suggesting a change of attitude will cure you.  But your perception of pain can change, and improve.

During World War II, Henry K. Beecher noticed that wounded soldiers would not ask for "pain killers" as much as civilians recovering from surgery, even though their wounds were similar.  Why?

His conclusion was that the pain meant something different for the soldiers than for the civilians.  The soldiers were likely to be sent home as a result of their injuries.  The civilians simply had to live with their injuries.

Whether or not Beecher was entirely correct, surely there is an element of truth here.  If we focus on our pain, as something to overcome, maybe as something than can’t be overcome, we’re carrying the rock.  We’re putting the full weight of our symptoms on our backs.

But if we train ourselves to have a different attitude, we can roll the rock.  We can see it as simply something to work around.  Perhaps it even gives us opportunities – do you think you understand other people’s pain better because of your own?  Does it make you cherish certain things more?  It should.

Notice I said we have to train ourselves.  Sometimes having a good attitude isn’t a simple task.  It takes practice.  It takes time.  But it’s worth it.

This week, start practising.  Don’t focus on your pain and carry it around.  Instead, let it make you stronger.  Let it make you thankful.  Work around it, instead of making it the focus of your life.

Rocks arranged in the right way can dam a river.  Or, split up, they can make the river flow in a different, interesting way.  Don’t let your symptoms stop you.  Let the river of your life flow on!

What is 1% Thursday?

Every Thursday at Headache and Migraine News (weather permitting) we’ll talk about one measurable, practical thing we can do to make our lives just 1% better.  Usually it will be something very easy, sometimes it will be a challenge.  Let us know if you try it, or share an idea of your own – and maybe a year from now we’ll see that things have really changed for the better!