I’m in the throes of a migraine today. But I decided to write anyway. There are such moments when my life becomes so difficult and I feel so alone.
I have difficulty focusing. My head hurts. My neck really aches and my head actually feels heavy. Not sure why? I don’t know enough about anatomy. But I do know that migraines have widespread pain, and there’s nothing we can do about that. It just is folks!
So how can I ensure that I can accept my predicament? Probably by not fighting it and accepting this as my reality. What we fight tends to grow. What’s more, we stress ourselves out just fighting what is. The more stress we feel, the more pain we feel. And we may even be bringing on a migraine attack by fighting it.
Also, by not fighting our migraine pain, we can become more resilient. People who live with migraines struggle with debilitating pain and symptoms, which can snap the joy right out of life. It’s very hard to live with migraines and still enjoy the day.
Here are a few positive traits of individuals living with migraines.
*1. We are resilient. Migraines are challenging and complex. We have to learn how to bounce back quickly, dogging triggers and attacks or recover from them. This is a fundamental part of coping with migraines.
*2. We have a lot of strength. We are able to say to tough out the nausea, vomiting and other debilitating symptoms and get back to your life as soon as you’re able. Migraine attacks are like battles. We fight through them to get to the other wide as best as we can so that we can get back to living our lives.
*3. We are empathic. Because we struggle with so much pain, we are able to empathize when others are struggling as well. Seeing and understanding another’s pain, struggles, and difficulties are innate abilities we pick up along the way.
*4. We appreciate others with sincerity and without the expectation of anything in return. We also truly appreciate life and the times when we’re not feeling migraine pain and all the secondary effects of it.
*5. We develop courage. Migraines knock us down more often than we’d like. Yet, we continue to have the courage to get backup and keep trying. This is because we face adversity often. This makes us stronger and more able to keep on living our best life.
By recognizing these amazing character traits that we develop over time, we can be proud of ourselves. And when we have hard days, and yes, there will be quite a few, we can rejoice that we aren’t our pain; instead, we’re resilient and strong.
Irene Roth
Living With Chronic Illness 