Pain management

Well, let's talk about some healthy reactions to pain.  Years ago, a long-time friend went through a  really difficult divorce just before I experienced a much less difficult one.  Of course, I was really hurting.  I knew she had to be suffering, and she didn't have the luxury of wallowing in it or drowning the pain in booze.  She had two young kids to raise and a demanding job.  I asked her how she was coping.  She said that when she was really in pain, she let herself feel it for five minutes.  Then, she was done.  Back to work.  I was in awe -- and inspired.

In the same spirit, this week, the web has offered a couple of examples of people who reacted to their respective misfortunes with grace and amazing strength.

First, here's the story of a college student from Colorado.  Hiking in Wyoming, she broke her ankle -- really broke her ankle.  While she waits for rescue, she filmed herself talking about her situation.  She's funny, cool.  I hope that I would be so cool under a profoundly stressful situation.  Two warnings here:

1. Her language isn't always language that you'd use around your five-year-old.  She's sitting alone in the dark with a broken ankle.  You don't use language like that around your five-year-old, right?
2. Her ankle is broken.  It's not pretty.  

If you're squeamish about words or feet pointing in unnatural directions, you've been warned.

A tip o' the hat to Adventure Journal!

Next up is another story from Wyoming, this from WyoFile.  In the latest edition of the Peaks to Plains column, we read about Tom and Sarah Wilson.  Here's how the story starts:

Tom and Sarah Wilson finished the Lander Sprint Triathlon Saturday the same way they survived the last year and a half; holding hands, together. 

It didn’t matter that Sarah was the stronger swimmer and Tom the faster runner. It didn’t matter that it took them two hours and seven minutes to finish. 

What mattered was a year and a half ago they held their son, born at 22 weeks, long enough to name him David Thomas Wilson, before he died in their arms. What mattered was a few months later Sarah still needed two people to help her out of bed. What mattered was that even six months ago Sarah was still in so much pain there were days she couldn’t get out of bed.

Problems?  I have no problems.  Back to work.

Thanks, K!