ouch

Daaaaaang! My back HURTS. Not the kind of hurt that a little rest can cure but the kind of hurt that stays with you day, and night, and every minute in between. I'm serious. This is not just one of my drama episodes that is formulated to get a little extra attention. My back really, really hurts!

FAST FORWARD ...
That was a couple of weeks ago. I feel MUCH better now. Since I am coming out on the other side of this injury I want to share some of the things I learned on my journey to feeling good.

1. Pain sucks. Duh. We all know what a pain in the butt it is to hurt constantly, to be sidelined physically, to ask for help with everyday tasks, but what I was not prepared for was how ...
2. ... pain bleeds blue. When I get "down" mentally and emotionally I say that I'm "blue". Boy oh boy, have I ever been blue these last few weeks. I've been "I hate everything and don't care about anything and I'm giving up on everything because my stupid back pain is taking up all of my brain space that used to be filled with happy thoughts" blue.
3. Medicine is good. I don't like to take a bunch of pills and I really don't like the side effects of those pills BUT if medicine can take the pain away AND give me back a little brain space to entertain some of those happy thoughts then give. me. the. pills!
4. Rest isn't just for wimps. I like to be productive and active and when pain gets in the way of that and rest becomes a *NEED*, not just a *wish*, I feel wimpy. Ugh. But, when you start to see the benefits of said "rest" and the pain moves farther and farther way then it's like, "woo-hoo, I'm REALLY good at resting ... I'm so proud of this accomplishment ... go ME ... way to REST!!".
5. Listen to your body. I mean, I always listen to my body when it says, "hey, go ahead and eat the whole bag of king size M&Ms right NOW". Why not listen when it's saying, "ouch, everything you do is hurting me ... please stop and get some help right NOW".

Not exactly life-changing thoughts but, hey, that's what I learned :)

Now that I'm on the road to recovery I have set a few goals for myself. One goal is to get active again, one is to eat fewer M&Ms, and one is to do more stuff like this ...... 

.... it can't be that hard, right? Well, wearing a swimsuit like that may be impossible but not the rest of it :)