Enjoy The Little Things

I never understood chronic pain and what it does to you mentally until I experienced it for myself.

I want to acknowledge right up front that I'm one of the lucky ones; I have an end in sight. I've been in physical pain for almost a year, but in this case, it's not forever. It took doctors four months to figure out what was physically wrong with me, but they did figure it out and it was fixable with surgery. I am still in the thick of recovery and I don't really know how long it will be till I can walk normally again, but it will happen.

So my journey has just been a taste of chronic pain, and I'm simultaneously thankful for that and grieving with those who don't have an end in sight.

But the point of me writing this right now is to share the biggest lesson I've learned in my ten months of pain: Enjoy the little things.

Zombieland had it right.

I've learned that I can't walk around my neighborhood right now, but I can walk to the mailbox and back and breathe in the fresh air.

I can't sit comfortably at a movie theater or make it through a whole movie without taking a break halfway through and doing my hip exercises in the lobby, but I can have a friend over and watch a movie stretched out on my couch with an ice pack and have just as much fun.

I can make a cup of tea and sit outside with a friend and watch the birds when I can't drive to meet her at a coffee shop because I haven't been cleared by my doctor to drive.

I can't host a work event and go to a churchwide worship night in the same week, but I can be wholeheartedly at one of them and feel proud of that. I can also be proud at myself for knowing my boundaries and not guilting myself into doing both events.

I can do the chores that I can do around the house, and I can be honest with my husband about the chores that make me physically hurt, and I can take breaks because our house doesn't have to be in tip top order every second of every day.

I can take breaks. I can enjoy the little things. I can admit that my body is in pain constantly right now and that really sucks, and along with it sucking, I can still enjoy the little things.

Don't forget to enjoy the little things yourself.