Sarcasm as a Warning Sign

“Ah-HA!” moment of today:

I reach for sarcasm when my pain level moves from 5 to a 6.*

By the time I reach for my Theraband or Advil bottle, I’m moving into the 7/8 range.

I know that sarcasm can serve as a cover for emotional pain, feelings such as anger, grief, loss.

But today, as I was getting dressed and I snapped out a particularly caustic comment to the cat, I had to stop and ask myself, “What was that about?”

I paused long enough to check in with myself and realized that I was hurting. Physically in far more pain than normal for 7:45 AM. Glad I’d caught the pain before it was out of control for the entire day, I switched into self-care mode.

Sarcasm as a warning sign: You’re in pain. Do something about it.

(* For those who aren’t familiar with my story, I fractured a vertebra and herniated the discs above and below in 2001. I’ve learned to live with chronic muscle and nerve pain over the last decade.)