5:30 arrives waaaay too early this morning.
I do not want to get up.
For all my talk of "going to bed early" last night, it was 11:30 before lights out.
I do not want to get up.
The 5:30 alarm rouses me briefly. Daniel gets up to start his weight routine. The down comforter cradles me and two warm cats snuggle up to me.
I do NOT want to get up!
But relentlessly, my daily motivation to get out of bed increases:
PAIN.
Zombie-like, I stagger into the bathroom, pull on exercise clothes, and plod down the stairs to the garage.
The elliptical won't work. A momentary flicker of hope: Clearly, God wants me to go back to bed!
But Daniel jiggles some wires, and suddenly the display flashes on.
I wish I could spring to life that quickly.
Selecting the most up-beat song on my iPod, I start moving. Slowly. Stiffly.
PAIN-full-y.
And yet, I know that within 10 minutes the pain will subside. And if I keep going for 20 minutes, my day will be relatively pain-free.
The one form of pain control that works is exercise. Each day, my quality of life is determined by a clear choice: exercise and feel good or stay in bed and stay in PAIN.
So today -- despite initially feeling like getting out of bed would be the end of me! -- I am thankful for two things:
1) I am thankful that pain control is within my control. I know many chronic pain sufferers for whom the worst thing is not the pain itself but their inability to predict or influence it. I can do both.
2) I am thankful for such powerful motivation to do what I should be doing but, on my own, lack the willpower to do. Pain has made me healthier: healthier than I was at the time of my injury and healthier than I would be, now, without it.
For what "pain" in your life are you thankful?
