No pain no gain

Pain is rarely fun. In fact, I'll even go as far as to say it sucks. However, there are a few good things about experiencing pain. One of which is the feeling of improvement that occurs after something really painful.

How did I stumble across this epiphany? I'll tell ya, it came at a hefty price. I was going down the stairs to do some laundry. Okay, not just going, I was running, because clearly, you have to run when doing laundry late on a Saturday night. At the bottom of the stairs was some innocent-looking wooden chest-thing. In my mad rush to get to the washer (you know, before anyone else in the empty house jumped in front of me), I smashed my knee on it. I'm talkin' hard. Like instant and overwhelming shooting pains running up and down my entire body that made me wonder if perhaps I had been stabbed in the kneecap. The throbbing madness gave no grace period either, and within seconds the inevitable bump had risen and I'm pretty sure it was still growing 20 minutes later. Next thing I know, I am immobilized on the stupid chest saying several choice words over and over.

This substantial amount of pain lasted about a minute or so, although it felt more like 20. But then, something incredible started to happen.... the pain started to lessen. As the pain subsided, I felt relief, and saw a light at the end of my dark tunnel. And it made me think, even if I can't appreciate feelings of pain, at least I can appreciate the feeling of improvement.

Its the same deal with other types of pain and suffering as well. Like the relief when you are really sick and your fever finally breaks. Or when you are hungover and you begin to be able to keep down food and water again. Or after something really devastating happens, you eventually begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel and you realize that everything really will be alright.

So in keeping with the theme of trying to make the best of any situation, I will also try to see the best in experiencing pain. Although I am not quite to the point where I can actualy enjoy feeling pain, atleast soon after, I can appreciate the feelings that follow. If you can take solace in improvements, you might just be well on your way. And who knows, maybe one day I'll smash the heck out of my knee again, and relish in the pain of the entire experience from begining to end.

For all concerned parties, my knee is significantly better, just pretty bruised. However, I did have to move all of my stuff into the new apartment today, so the timing was less than ideal. Lets just say that moving with my mini-limp has, if nothing else, been an interesting adventure...