The stories we tell ourselves. I can tell you a story about your body, why you are in pain, where it stemmed from. But is it accurate? Maybe not. Do you feel better about having a story? Maybe not. Does it help reach your goal to feeling better? Probably not. If anything, the story is often what holds you back. You have something to keep you in this “reason” why you are in pain. It becomes something to focus your energy on; it becomes something to blame.
Your story often becomes the thing that holds you back from achieving your goals. It becomes the reason you can’t get better instead of the reason you feel the way you do. You wear that story like a badge, a battle wound. We dwell on what is wrong with us instead of what we can do to make ourselves feel better, move better, have better quality of life.
There are so many factors that go in to why we feel the way we do that it’s near impossible to formulate the exact reason. If you had an incident then it is a little easier to formulate a story, but that doesn’t take into account all the other factors that may play a role in why you are feeling the way you do. Two people can have the exact same injury that happened the exact same way and still have completely different presentations of pain and immobility from said injury. Our life experiences play a huge role in our bodies, more then we give them credit for. They also play a huge role in our experience of pain.
Now, if you know me you know I try very hard to not give you a story. That can feel dismissive. The reality is it’s for reason. Number one, I don’t know the story of why you feel this way. Honestly, no one really does. It is not meant to be dismissive. It’s meant to help you not lead your pain with a story. We need less reasons to feel bad, and more focus on feeling better. The story often hinders our pathway to healing. Every time you have a setback, you think about that story. My goal is to give you more opportunity to heal without a reason to hold yourself back.
And look, I get it. It’s our human nature to do what we know regardless of we really want. Change is hard! Even good change is hard! And progress can be slow. It’s ok to have setbacks. It’s ok to feel defeated. It’s even ok to have a tantrum sometimes. The more you drive the story that You will get better the more you notice them moments where you actually feel it; where you believe it!
Don’t attach yourself to a story. Everyone has the ability to heal from their issues. Maybe you don’t completely heal, but you can definitely make positive changes. And be realistic. There will be good days; there will be bad days. They both serve a purpose. The real work comes from not giving up when you have bad days and not giving up when you hit a plateau. You have it in you. I know you do.