I’ve just come out of 2 weeks of COVID and in hindsight I can say that I am lucky it was not that bad in my case. But what dominated the experience was an underlying sense of fear and anxiety. Even though I generally felt fine apart from a cough and feeling a bit tired, I was SO worried I would get really sick or maybe even hospitalized.
People kept sending me different articles relating to the “latest” COVID info.
“Be wary of day 5” one said.
“The new strain gets aggressive from days 8-14” said another.
So each time I approached the next phase of the 2 week period, I was overwhelmed with fear.
In the end, for me, days 2-3 were the worst.
I know this is only my experience and therefore take what I’m about to say with a pinch of salt, BUT, it got me thinking…
…just how much of our lives are governed by FEAR? Especially the fear of physical pain when it comes to movement and exercise. I’ve met SO MANY people who are afraid to move their bodies. They fear the pain that may accompany movement so they avoid it all together when in fact, movement is the medicine they so desperately need.
But what exactly is pain? Well let’s rather look at what pain is not.
Pain is not the same thing as the fear of pain. Sometimes the fear of pain is much greater than the pain itself and is what locks us into a state of injury or dysfunction far longer than we need to be.
Pain or hurt is not harm or a symptom of damage and by that I mean that sometimes your body responds to weakness or instability by tightening up which is interpreted as pain. A weak muscle is not necessarily damaged but the tightening of it, interpreted as pain, could lead you to believe it is.
Pain is not something to avoid at all costs. Pain is your body’s way of adapting to threat and protecting itself, why would you want your body to stop protecting itself?
And lastly, pain is not something that’s out of your control. Changing the way you think about pain and also adopting practices to manage pain such as deep breathing, meditation and healthy lifestyle choices dramatically reduce your perception and experience of pain.
Things like back pain, shoulder pain, hip and knee pain – most of the cases I see are the result of inactivity and the accompanying weakness and tightness in the muscles and connective tissue. But the sufferers are too afraid to use movement to cure themselves, they fear movement will make things worse.
I wish I could find a way to give them the courage to step out of this fear-based mindset. I wish I could help them understand that their body was meant to bear weight, to move in all directions and to be pushed to the limit.
Sadly, most people resort to surgery to “fix” their pain, only to find another area becomes problematic thereafter.
Have you or someone you know experienced this? Share with someone who needs to read this.
