In Praise of Pain

5:30 arrives waaaay too early this morning.

I do not want to get up.

For all my talk of “going to bed early” last night, it was 11:30 before lights out.

I do not want to get up.

The 5:30 alarm rouses me briefly. Daniel gets up to start his weight routine. The down comforter cradles me and two warm cats snuggle up to me.

I do NOT want to get up!

But relentlessly, my daily motivation to get out of bed increases:
PAIN.

Zombie-like, I stagger into the bathroom, pull on exercise clothes, and plod down the stairs to the garage.

The elliptical won’t work. A momentary flicker of hope: Clearly, God wants me to go back to bed!

But Daniel jiggles some wires, and suddenly the display flashes on.

I wish I could spring to life that quickly.

Selecting the most up-beat song on my iPod, I start moving. Slowly. Stiffly.

PAIN-full-y.

And yet, I know that within 10 minutes the pain will subside. And if I keep going for 20 minutes, my day will be relatively pain-free.

Every morning, I wake up to chronic residual pain from fracturing T7 and herniating the discs above and below more than a decade ago.

The one form of pain control that works is exercise. Each day, my quality of life is determined by a clear choice: exercise and feel good or stay in bed and stay in PAIN.

So today — despite initially feeling like getting out of bed would be the end of me! — I am thankful for two things:

1) I am thankful that pain control is within my control. I know many chronic pain sufferers for whom the worst thing is not the pain itself but their inability to predict or influence it. I can do both.

2) I am thankful for such powerful motivation to do what I should be doing but, on my own, lack the willpower to do. Pain has made me healthier: healthier than I was at the time of my injury and healthier than I would be, now, without it.

For what “pain” in your life are you thankful?