The Desensitization of Ignored Pain

I was about three miles into a run a couple of weeks ago when I started to feel a sharp pain on the right side of my foot.  It felt like there was a little piece of wood or rock jabbing into my foot with every step.  I've been running long enough to know that although it felt like something sharp or jagged was sticking into my foot, it most probably was just rubbing friction from my sock or shoe causing a blister to form on the side of my foot.  A mile or so later, I began to feel a similar twinge of pain on the other foot and knew that the pair of socks I had chosen to wear were causing the problem.

As I continued to run, the pain became more intense with each step but, as runners do, I continued on.  And soon, something interesting happened.  I began to notice the pain less.  Pain that had caused me to silently curse under my breath with each step, eventually subsided to a mild background discomfort.  I began to think back on all of the times I had experienced pain in the middle of a long run but had kept going through it only to find that the pain had eventually dulled to the point that I was no longer even aware of it.

I was intrigued at how the human body is able to adapt to discomfort and pain.  Pain is a function of the brain and thus the central nervous system has the ability to alter sensitivity to pain.  I see this as a fascinatingly positive reaction of the human mind to be able to persevere through pain.  At the same time, I could see the disadvantage of the brain's ability to make this adjustment.  Pain is the result of harmful or unpleasant stimuli that is conveyed along neural pathways to the brain through the peripheral and central nervous systems.  This means that the brain can mistakenly cause you not to feel pain when there is actual damage to your body taking place.  Sometimes this can have disastrous consequences.  Certainly much worse than a profusely blistered foot.  Sometimes, aches and pains, ignored and grown accustomed to, continue to cause severe damage to the physical body.

But wait.  What about the mental and emotional aspect.  This is often overlooked.  While we are so in tune with pain that we experience physically and generally so responsive to it, when we experience emotional and mental pain, we tend to minimize, ignore and bury it.  While it's totally acceptable to be direct and open about physical pain, there is a bit of a stigma attached to being open about mental and emotional pain.  Society tends to deem mental and emotional pain as weak, self-indulgent and dramatic.  

And so, we continue on with this intangible pain taking root and we become acclimated to it.  Soon, we no longer have any realization of its presence or the damage it is doing to our psyche and it becomes a guiding force in our lives.  Other people may see it manifested in our opinions, attitudes and vices but it's difficult to see it ourselves because we can no longer feel the pain and therefore think there is nothing there to see.

Most of us have spent time in this place to one extent or another.  

My hope is that each of us can be self reflective and aware that pain left unaddressed, becomes our master.  A master that is bent on destroying us.  In addition, I hope that each of us has people in our lives who will reach out and let us know when they see the symptoms of buried pain and that we will take whatever steps are needed to deal with and be free of whatever is causing the pain.
In turn, may we be mindful that others may be going through this and when we see indications, reach out and just ask, "Hey, is everything OK?"  That's often enough for someone to open up and begin to address some of the painful issues they are dealing with.  And sometimes, just talking to a friend about it is enough to begin the healing.

Anyway, just thoughts I have.

Carry on my Fellow Earth Babies and Dig Deep and Love!