Pain is Pain

Pain. It’s an odd part of the human experience. As I know all too well, pain hurts. In some cases, pain can severely hurt us as humans. Pain is also an educational tool. Thanks to pain, we all know we shouldn’t play with fire or that drinking expired milk is not something we should be doing. To be inclusive and fair to all, pain can be pleasurable for some from what I understand. Horrible people who belong on Criminal Minds use pain as a form of torture. Pain can also be used for discipline or punishment. And of course, there is chronic pain. Chronic pain can severely hurt me, educate me on my rheumatoid arthritis disease activity, and teach me what my poor damaged body can and can’t do at any moment. As much as I might try to trivialize pain for my own mental health, chronic pain is a dynamic and essential part of my current life today and for the foreseeable future. The million-dollar question is, how might we turn the art of my vulnerability, this blog post, into knowledge and understanding for all.