When was the last time you did something you really enjoyed? Life is too short to be consumed by stress and chronic pain. The bigger question is “What is your passion and purpose in life?” If you find yourself overwhelmed by chronic pain and stress, isolating yourself, staying in bed and withdrawing from participating in meaningful tasks, I invite you to take this challenge. The challenge is to decide that you will take an active step each day to move beyond the pain, to live life more abundantly. An active step can be a goal as simple as getting up out of bed and out of your room for one hour if you are someone who has not been doing this recently. Often as an occupational therapist, I work with some of my patients to achieve a simple goal such as getting up out of bed and participating in a meaningful activity outside of their room 5 days a week initially for one hour at a time. A higher level goal may be to participate in an exercise such as yoga or another low impact exercise 3 times a week for 30 minutes at a time. As always seek the advice of your physician as needed. However, be honest with yourself and avoid giving yourself excuses as to why you cannot do this, that or the other thing or anything for that matter to actively manage your stress and chronic pain.
Another goal may to be to get some helpful and motivational books or CDs and commit to reading or listening to them for 15 minutes a day. I have been so encouraged and challenged by some absolutely great speakers and authors over the last several years. For me, it started when I attended a “Get Motivated” seminar. From there I have been inspired by Jim Rohn in his book/CD series, The Art of Exceptional Living and transformed by Dr. Mike Murdock and his ministry the Wisdom Center. Of course, none of this has made me perfect, much less totally pain free. However, my life is much more rewarding and abundant. My husband and I completed the 40 day journey with Rick Warren’s the The Purpose Driven Life at the end of 2009. We highly recommend this resource. It has helped to clarify our passion and purpose in life.
What is your passion and purpose? My passion is to help those who are hurting physically, emotionally and spiritually. Among my dreams is the dream to do mission outreach work in the Philippines. The Philippines is my husband’s country of origin. Approximately three years ago, I set a goal in my journal that by the end of 2010 my husband and I would be able to go to the Philippines with our three sons. Our desire is to show them their culture, to meet the children they sponsor from World Vision in the Philippines and to help in the mission field. As I write this blog, on March 9, 2010 it seems like an impossible dream with my husband having been laid off for more than a year and credit card and business debt. However, it is because of the clarification of my purpose and passion in life and faith in God that I will not let up. In fact, it is in knowing my passion and purpose that motivates me to get up out of bed at 5:00 am some mornings, when I wake with a screaming headache and feeling like a “Mack Truck” hit me in my sleep, to take steps to actively manage my pain. For me, I found it more helpful to get up out of bed, take some aspirin as needed, put on a cold gel pack and start moving. Sometimes, I conscientiously make the effort to go workout. I go to the gym and do an elliptical machine for 40 minutes while I watch an inspirational program such as Enjoying Everyday Life with Joyce Meyer or Wisdom Keys with Dr. Mike Murdock. These can be very effective pain management strategies. By far the majority of the time, the gentle aerobic exercise and inspirational programs have helped my mind and body to refocus.
Clarity of my passion and purpose is what motivates me to go to work and keep my focus. Research shows that it is difficult to stay focused on two things at the same time. It is so true with pain management. When a person is engaged in purposeful and meaningful tasks, the mind cannot stay fully focused on the pain. When our focus is off the pain, our bodies are better able to relax and thereby assist with decreasing our pain level even more.
My question to you is what is your passion and purpose that helps you move beyond the chronic pain of fibromyalgia and/or other painful conditions? If you do not know, then I invite you to take the active step to discover this. If your budget is tight the libraries have great resources. For pain and stress relieving products and articles on stress and chronic pain management please visit our website at http://LivingLifeUnlimitedLLC.com. At LivingLifeUnlimitedLLC.com we donate 20% of our profits to World Vision to help those in need. May God heal you and bless you richly in your journey with joy and hope.
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