Daily Gratitude: I’ve written about this many times before and I’m always surprised that more people aren’t clamoring for more info. There are more than 51.6 million American adults (21% of the population) live with chronic pain. 17.1 million American adults live with high-impact chronic pain, or pain that frequently limits life or work activities. Chronic pain is the leading cause of long-term disability in the United States. About 83% of people with high-impact chronic pain are unable to work. People with chronic pain have at least twice the risk of suicide compared to those without chronic pain. But it can be changed. Most chronic pain is not caused by structural conditions no matter what you’ve been told. Of course, there are structural conditions that can cause pain like cancer, infections, tumors. But the majority of CHRONIC pain has been learned by your brain. Your brain has simply reacted to a threat – real or perceived – OR, one from the past that is triggered by something happening in your life right now. How dare I say these things? Because even though I’m a doctor and it’s all contrary to what I was taught, I could be a poster child for this. Notice a similarity here. These are truths but they are not what I was taught during my training. My brain learned one thing and it took major effort for it to develop new neural pathways that unlearned all that and then embraced the new way of thinking (which, by the way, is not new at all). It takes a lot of work and a lot of willingness to pry open your past to do this work but it saved my life and can save yours too. The brain can establish new pathways that are pain free. Did you know that the areas that control emotional pain are almost adjacent to those that cause physical pain? It’s pretty easy to understand how one can “decide” (it’s in quotes because it’s a subconscious decision) that it’s preferable to experience physical pain rather than the emotional pain. Neuroplasticity means you can change all this and get rid of your chronic pain. But you have to be willing to do the work. This isn’t something you can just get a pill or a shot for. It’s your journey.

Daily Gratitude: This is another way of saying that you only need to see 200 feet ahead of you. Have you ever felt totally overwhelmed by something you’re working on? So overwhelmed, perhaps, that you’re just spinning your wheels and not really getting anything accomplished? The first thing to do is stop and take some deep breaths in an attempt to calm your nervous system. Then see if you can decide what the very next thing you need to do is. Something small. So small that no one would notice unless they knew the process. When it’s that small, it takes the pressure off you a bit since you aren’t as worried about all the eyes that might be looking at you. But the pressure is also lessened because this is probably something pretty simple and you know how to do it. Once you finish that one thing, you can feel more confident and also then decide what the next step is (remember to make it small) and continue on like this. Vol state (the 314 mile race I do in July) is a great example. If we look at having to run or walk 314 miles, it seems impossible. But if we look at it as only 16 miles in the next 12 hours, it becomes more attainable. And sometimes, if you’re like me, that 16 miles becomes “I just have to make it to the next guardrail”. You just have to make your big project into lots of little projects. I also call it “chunking”. Take a goal or project you have going now and think about what the next small step you have to take is. Now do that small step and you’re on your way.

I hope that you copy this quote and put it somewhere that’s easily accessible. It would be nice even if you read it every day. All too often we’re feeling despair when something isn’t going the way we want it to. We have blinders on and can’t see anything but the discouraging event and “possible” consequences. I put possible in quotes because they are really imagined consequences because they haven’t happened yet. Because of the blinders, we don’t look around the room (at the rest of our life) to see the good things that are there right in front of us – if we took the blinders off. Nothing is all bad. Here’s what I could have focused on after my recent race in Tennessee which ended up with a fractured clavicle: I had to stop the race so I didn’t finish it. I am a failure for not finishing. I am too old or I wouldn’t have tripped on that asphalt lip. I shouldn’t ever do any races again. I had to give in and go to an ER (gasp). I can’t do anything with my right arm for at least 6 weeks. I can’t continue writing my book or doing my podcast interviews. And on and on. So, what was hiding in the corners beyond where I could see if I kept the blinders on? The love and concern other people showed me. The true friendship of someone who gave up 3-4 days of his life to come drive me home. The fun I am having conquering doing everything with my left arm. The rest I’m getting since I can’t do much else. Actually enjoying watching this healing process which is fascinating. Reading more since I have more time. I think that these things that crept in through the door I left open far outweigh the “bad” things I could only see if I kept my blinders on. I’m sure you have similar examples in your life IF you’d simply look for the breadcrumbs to the door you left open. Why don’t you try to follow the clues and let us know.