Pain to Power

Greetings,

I know it has been quite a while since I have put anything on this blog, I have been having a lack of inspiration for anything of relevance to write. My fencing blog (afencersramblings.blogspot.com.au) seems to be so much easier to write for some reason. I am guessing that this one is personal and I do not know exactly how much of my personal stuff people want to hear about. I am really not the sort of person who likes to sit around complaining about stuff. I write here to inform and to give others ideas about how to deal with things in their own lives. So on to the subject of the current post before I get too side-tracked...

The purpose of this post is to look at how we can turn our pain into power. No, I am not talking about working a generator, I am talking about using it to motivate and to make us do more rather than withdraw into our shells as we often want to. This may seem very strange to some, as soon as the pain starts they stop because it hurts and therefore the concept that the pain can make them powerful is going to be rather alien to them. Obviously for me, not so much.

"Work through the pain." How many times have you heard this statement? It is often proposed by gym-junkies and the like when they are exercising. They are talking about pain which is developed by fatigue or a "stitch". This is not the sort of pain that people with fibromyalgia (FM) and similar conditions are familiar with. For them it is nerve pain, much more painful, and often longer lasting.

Step 1: Choosing

The first part of turning your pain into power is that when the pain strikes you have two choices. No, actually you really do. You can stop what you are doing, or you can continue. If what you are doing is not particularly pleasurable or you are not particularly motivated to doing it then stopping and saving your energy is probably the best option. Save your energy for battles you want to pick. If you are doing something that you want to be doing or is pleasurable to you and you are motivated to do, then not stopping is probably an option. You have to choose not to stop.

Step 2: Energy

The next bit is having a look how much energy resisting is going to take and how much you have in reserve. Time to "count the spoons" as some would put it. Resisting the pain and continuing is going to take energy, and in some instances it is going to take quite a bit of it. The questions you have to ask yourself are: Do you have this energy? Are you willing to spend it? Are you willing to put up with the consequences of spending it? Is the outcome going to be worth it? The last question is actually the most important as far as I am concerned, the rest are not so important, but that is me.

Step 3: Spending the Energy

Out of all of the steps this is the hard bit and takes the real determination. This is the bit where most people will feel that they have failed, or will quit trying and so forth. This is the bit where you stare the pain down and tell it who's boss. This is the bit where you look it in the eye and tell it that you are going to continue what you are doing until you want to stop, not until it wants to stop you. This is going to take determination and energy to keep going. Most importantly believe that you can do it and do it.

Step 4: Downtime

After any energy expenditure you need some downtime. This will allow you to recharge the batteries a little. At this point in time you should not be thinking about how you went, only about resting and recharging. To tell you the truth, this is the bit that I have the hardest time with, I always feel that I should be doing something. Most of the time for me it is "crash"-time rather than downtime, and I do not recommend it. Take time to rest instead.

Step 5: Evaluation and Preparation

After you have had some time to recharge your batteries you need to have a look at how you did. A responsible person always evaluates what they have done and learns from it. Most importantly, this is personal evaluation. You do not need to, nor should you, compare your successes with anyone else. Please notice that I have not mentioned the word "failure". If you did a little bit more than you would have done because you chose to. You have a success. The successes do not have to be big, the just have to be present. Find out what you can do differently next time to improve your situation so that you can do better. The next part is preparation and preparing to make the same choice again, because it will come around again, and you have to be willing to make the same choice again. The more you do it, the more motivated you will become and the more powerful you will become. Hence pain to power.

If you are reading this and think that this is an easy sort of thing to do, you are kidding yourself. It is even more difficult if you are not prone to resisting the pain and letting it have its way. The method I am proposing here is hard, and it takes time, but it is about standing up and taking power over the pain rather than letting it have all the power. No, I am not saying that you should ditch all your medications, that's crazy, but the power of your own motivation can help a hell of a lot.

I am proposing a method that works for me. Now be warned I am a stubborn sod, any one of my two siblings will tell you this, as will many of my friends. I hate being confined by things. Most of all I hate being confined by my conditions, thus I fight against them. Now a lot of the time this can land me in some hot water, you will not posts about me talking about "crashes". This is because I push the method that I am proposing to the extreme and then suffer the consequences. What I am proposing for you is to use it in a much more measured fashion. Have a go, what's the damage it can do to try?

Cheers,

Henry.

Master of the Six Ps

Greetings,

Yes, I know the title for this one is a little odd but there will be an explanation of what I am talking about very shortly. For starters, this particular entry is all about preparation. Preparation is important in many different facets of our lives.

The six P's are as such: "Proper Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance" and it is the concept which goes with this that I am attempting to master. This is obviously a long-term project and applies not only to my fencing, which takes up a big part of my life, but many other parts of life. It is a statement which was made by my father some time ago. I thought, at the time that it was an awesome saying, and needless to say it has stuck in my head.

So, time for a bit of examination. For starters we look at the concept behind it. It points toward what a person does before an event in order that the event goes off properly. However, underlying this particular idea is also the point that if the event does not go off, there is the high likelihood that the person only has their self to blame for the outcome. These two are the important elements overall, but it is also useful to look a little closer.

The statement could have said "Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance", but this would not be as accurate. We can prepare for an event of any kind, be it an examination, a tournament of some kind, or a performance piece. The level of preparation is important we can prepare a little and brush over the important bits, and this can lead to a substandard performance. This highlights the importance of proper preparation. It is proper preparation which is of the greatest use in preparing for an event.

The next part to look at is the word "Prevents". The word "prevents" implies that the thing goes a great deal toward something not happening. However it is important that it is not complete. There are things in our lives which we cannot control which can affect a performance. For an outside performance, the weather is a big factor in this one. Of course, it could be argued that a wet-weather back-up plan could be part of the preparation. There are things we cannot control, injury, illness and family issues, all of these things can affect the performance, and in some cases whether it happens or not. What this does say is that proper preparation puts you in the greatest position, for elements you can control, to succeed.

With a little more focus on the medical side of things, making sure that the appropriate medications are taken at the correct times goes a long way to ensuring that the day works out. In some ways it can be argued that the taking of such medication is the proper preparation for the performance of the next day. For the individual with fibromyalgia preparation can be difficult. However, we all know the signs of a bad day coming up, the creeping pain issues building and general feelings of not being well. In the case of preparation in these cases it is ensuring that there is nothing important planned for that day, or cancelling it if there is.

I am still in the process of mastering the Six Ps, but I can guarantee that life gets easier the more that you are prepared for things. Hell, preventative preparation counts on this one. Of course we can never take into account everything that may happen, but there is a lot that we can examine and take into account. Preparation helps with regard to this. Putting in the preparation even if the event does not happen is a good thing as it gets you used to the idea, and will make things easier for you in the long-run.

Cheers,

Henry.