When reading When The Body Says No I was struck by Gabor Mate’s description of many pain sufferers as "strongly independent" and able to endure a great amount of pain. One who might be called stoic.
His words so fit my experience. The phrases, "suffer in silence", "tough guys don’t cry", and "suck it up. it really doesn’t hurt that much" come to mind.
I grew up in a family where fun was not a priority. Survival was. Toughing it out was. Doing for others before onself, was.
Goodies were rare. And, you sure as hell didn’t indulge yourself. Life WAS hard, damn it!
Yet, one of the things I am learning out of my pain is that those messages are all crap!
That in fact, indulging myself — or at least what seems like indulging myself — is in fact the best thing I can do.
My body doesn’t need to be beaten or treated like shit.
It needs to be pampered and soothed.
When I take of my body, treat is special, it takes care of me.
Want to feel better?
Indulge yourself.
