What Being A Chronic Pain Patient Has Taught Me - HAWMC Day 12

No one wants to be sick and no one likes being in pain.  Life would have it that I would have both of these things be constants in mine.  Excruciating migraine pain has been a part of my existence since childhood and so has the sickness that accompanies it (nausea, vomiting, dizziness, etc.).  You can say that chronic pain has been teaching me a very long series of lessons throughout the years.  How to cope, when to say when, how to swallow my pride and ask for help.  I've learned how to listen to myself and how to pause for a moment to allow my body and my mind to heal.  Pain has taught me to appreciate what truly matters - family, time, love, strong faith and true friendships.  Learning to live this life that God has made for me has been a struggle.  I've battled with the why me's and how come's.  Steeling my faith has taught me to be quiet, settle down, be patient and wait for the answers.  They are never what you want or need them to be exactly but they prove to be the tiny threads that are weaving your life story into the grand masterpiece that it is destined to be.  Pain has taught me to appreciate every struggle for the lesson that each represents.  In the middle of the storm one cannot see the calm nor the purpose of having to endure such strife.  Yet, once it passes we can recognize the way it has strengthened us and appreciate the hardship for refining us.  Is this the life I wanted for myself?  Absolutely not.  Would I change it for what I think I want?  Never.  I can honestly look back on my life and be content and grateful for everything that I have gone through.  It's given me a greater purpose.  It's also made me a better mother to my children and wife to my husband.  I hope to continue to learn and grow through this journey, although it will mean going through more physical and emotional pain in order to do so.  That's okay though.  I'm becoming more and more okay with my illnesses and feel more in control of my treatment than I have before.  So, bring it on!  I'm sure I'll make it through whatever life throws at me.