dear Diary #2

PAIN IS JUST PAIN!

Dear diary,

As I sit behind my computer to type out this post, my heart is overwhelmed with worry about the scars that many of us bear due to the rough patches we have been in.

Pain, they say, is the most indiscriminate thing on the surface of the earth. It knows no age, no gender, no race, no nationality, no religion...nothing. Pain is just pain. In medicine, we try to classify the pain patients present with, by asking "On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being compared to the worst pain you have ever experienced in your life, and 1 being the least, where would you grade your pain?"

In all honesty, I see myself being the type of patient that just screams, "Pain is pain Dr. All I know is I'm in pain!" lol

But, being able to classify the pain one is feeling helps us understand better the position the patient is in...although it's not always accurate because of the diifferent pain thresholds everyone has.

Nevertheless, one thing that binds all kinds of pain, be it emotional, physical...whatever type of pain together is experience. The fact that I have experienced pain means that I can identify to some minute extent with someone's pain...although this is relative. For e.g. if you have not known the pain of being hungry, you will never understand why someone who has been starving their whole lives will be so excited about eating simple gari with shito. OR if you have never been through a break up you will never understand what the fuss is all about, or what people mean by it causes psychological and emotional trauma, and may end up plunging the person into a state of depression or a cycle of low self-esteem and possibly suicide.

So, as a side note to people that randomly just downplay what someone is feeling in relation to any painful experience: Please do not do that.

Until you have been put in the same or similar situation as the person, you will not understand why they are probably very unfriendly, or behave a certain type of way.

The worst damage pain inflicts is on your mental health. Pain has the ability to alter how you view yourself, it has the ability to cause you to lose your mind, wreck your emotions and leave you helpless. It's like a scar that's being opened up continuously, by constantly replaying the situation that caused you the pain in your mind, over and over and over again...like a never-ending rollercoaster.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that people should use pain as a reason to hurt other people or even hurt themselves, or portray bad behaviour. No, don't do that. Don't make the saying, "Hurt people, Hurt people" come true in your life. God understands that in this life, we'll face many painful experiences, battles we never even called for, among others. That's the reason why He's made the comforter available to us. He understands the emotional breakdown we sometimes experience, and He's already made provision for the strength to see us through.

So you, yes you reading this post, whatever rough patch you're going through right now please don't give up. God's got you, and someday you'll be bold enough to show your scars to the world and proclaim that you went through fire, but you made it out! You'll be equipped with a beautiful grace to lift others, and help them overcome their own troubles. You are loved.

Matthew 11:28 NIV

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

#donotGiveUp