Are You Ready to Be Pain Free Without Drugs?

A blog perspective from Bev, CEO of RiverWest Acupuncture

Are you ready to be pain free without drugs?

Completely Pain Free

It seems like such an obvious answer, doesn’t it? Of course I want to be pain free without drugs! But I had an epiphany this week; two in fact. What became crystal clear to me is how much I like to be COMPLETELY pain free, and I mean really pain free. Not one little ache or pain anywhere. In fact, I am a HSP (Highly Sensitive Person.) I scan to make sure that all my parts feel good. If they don’t, then I start to get anxious about how long the discomfort will last, how intense it might get, what caused it, and how can I get rid of it.

Mostly Pain Free

The second epiphany is how reluctant I can be to do what it takes to be pain free. Unless I’m in crisis, then I’ll do something about it. But for the more nagging, simply irritating, aches and pains, I resist doing anything about them. Interestingly enough, with all that energy involved in the discovery of the ache or pain, and then the worry about it, much of the time, I take no action to alleviate the discomfort.

Why Do I Wait When I Have Pain?

What I realized this week, is that I LOVE to have body work done, whether it’s acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, or some other form of work. I LOVE to feel good, to feel pain free. YES REALLY PAIN FREE! When you are a HSP (pronounced HISP by Lisa) being pain free is simply delicious. Given my sensitivity, I became curious about why, being a HSP, being completely pain averse and intolerant, would I defer a treatment that would bring relief? It made no sense to me.

Excuses to Stay in Pain

I came to understand that I am uncomfortable with getting that much work done on my body. Not physically uncomfortable, more embarrassed. Like I shouldn’t be such a wimp and want to run and have someone do something about every little ache or pain that I exhibit. I should be tougher. Who has the time to spend that much time having that much body work done? (Those were just a few of the things that went through my head.) Do any of them sound familiar? But then I realized, that not only do I have the time, I have every resource right in my office, and I can go get whatever I need whenever I want, just about.

Getting Help for Pain Relief

So I decided to run an experiment. Every time I have a little headache, a little sinus congestion, a little hip pain, instead of powering through it, or taking some Excedrin or Aleve, so that I can make it through my day, I will walk in and ask an available acupuncture practitioner to make it go away. Not only make it go away, but find out where’s it coming from to begin with so that I can get to the root of the issue, instead of just treating the symptoms. I just started this a day ago, and I have to say, so far I’ve had to talk myself into doing that. It is such a strong reaction to just get through it, be tough, work through it etc. I don’t know where it comes from. I’m not sure that matters. You may want to experiment with a different level of care for yourself.

My theory is that if I take really great care of myself, work will be easier, I’ll have more creative ideas, and there will be more flow in my life. I’ll keep you posted.