How do you deal with pain?

There are a lot of ways to try to manage pain. I'm not in an physical pain right now, but it might be interesting to see how those methods might relate to hurt in an emotional sense. Let's start with some of the most common.

- Ignore it. We all do it. You get a small headache or a weird muscle pain in your back and you just try to ignore it. Sometimes it works and the the pain subsides on its own. Other times it just gets worse, and the more you try to push it out of your mind the more you feel it. Sometimes there are little things that irritate or hurt you that may not bother after a day or so. Then there are other hurts that the more you try to avoid them the deeper they bury themselves in your core, and the more difficult it becomes to ignore them. I read a study that talked about the importance of dealing with physical pain as soon as possible. Apparently the longer you let pain persist the more likely you are to experience chronic pain for the rest of your life. You can't just push things away. The more you do that the more likely you will hurt all the time; chronic hurt will overshadow happiness.

- Take something for it. You get a headache and you take an aspirin or something for it. Most of the time this works. The medicine temporarily alleviates the pain while your body works to correct the source of it. The problem here comes into to play when we get addicted to the medicine or your body can't correct itself. You feel hurt and alone, so you spend time with someone else or others (or some might go to the strip club) and while you're with them the hurt is gone and you feel pretty darn good. But eventually the aspirin wears off and you're by yourself again. Now the hurt comes back and it might be throbbing more than ever (and you might have the added bonus of smelling like cheap perfume and cigarettes). So unless you work to fix the pain or the hurt all you're doing is managing it, which is close to ignoring it.

- Stub your toe. Almost humorously someone might tell you that if you've got a headache just bite your tongue or stub your toe and you won't feel your headache anymore. If one aspect of your life hurts just shift focus to other parts that suck worse. Well, this is just self-destructive, and its does is ignore the issue. We already know how that turns out.

- Go the the Doctor. The pain just won't go away, so you go to your doctor and he or she helps to figure out why your headache won't go away. Then they give you some ways to help with that headache and avoid headaches in the future (for me it was quitting my job at the insurance company). Your doctor helps you find the root of the pain, talk to someone who'll help you find the root of your hurt. Once you know what hurts you can talk to someone who'll help you reduce your current hurt and prevent a similar hurt in the future.

- Don't be a glutton for punishment. My mother always said this, and my very often homeopathic doctor often echoed it. I'd say, "Mom, it hurts when I do this" and her response was "Then don't do that." I know this sounds a little like ignoring pain, but its not. In this sense the pain only comes when you make it. You've got a bruise or a sore spot and when you push it, it's painful. So don't push it. You've got a sore spot, so don't expose yourself to the hurt that made you sore. Your bruise will heal over time, but not if you keep pushing at it. Once you identify the source, your hurt will begin to heal over time, but not if you keep picking at it; not if you don't let the wound close.

So, what have we learned? Don't ignore things, seek help to find the root, and let yourself heal.
[Plus strip clubs just leave you broke and smelly ;)]