I know for sure that I have written about this before, but a topic came up in therapy that I would like to talk about. The idea is to basically find a meaning in the suffering - you are going through this but it is fine because without the darkness you would not recognise the light and things could be worse, and all that jazz.
For me, that does not work. There is no reason I'm suffering; I'm in pain without cause. Yoga, pilates, "clean" [as opposed to dirty?] eating... none of that is going to help. I can recognise pain-less [not painless, but days with less pain] days because they hurt less.
I'm more than happy to let others have their own meaning, a personal purpose to their pain. If it helps them, great.
What happens when you are that "it could be worse"? When someone says "It could be worse, you could be going through insert-bad-thing-here" and you are going through insert-bad-thing-here.
I am going through that insert-bad-thing-here. I rely on crutches to walk, and sometimes I can't and I have to turn to my wheelchair. When I do that, I have a freedom taken from me; I cannot control where I go because someone else has to push me around.
This quote from the above link describes it perfectly.
to put your worries into perspective.But what if you are that person? I've lost count of the number of times that I've been approached by strangers wanting to tell me that they think I'm brave or inspirational, and this was long before my workhad any kind of public profile. They were just kind of congratulating me for managing to get up in the morning and remember my own name. (Laughter) And it is objectifying. These images, those images objectify disabled people for the benefit of nondisabled people. They are there so that you can look at them and think that things aren't so bad for you,
See you next Tuesday
E