Most Hurt can Heal
Getting past the pain
Recently, while performing core conditioning exercises, I felt some stiffness in my left ankle. It reminded me that I had sprained that ankle years ago. Periodically, that tightness re-emerges and revives a memory of my unfortunate encounter with a trampoline and a very unsuccessful attempt to impress a girlfriend.
I learned the hard way that, when two people bounce on a trampoline and both land at the same time, the bouncing pad is at a weird angle for an instant. When you hit that pad from about eight feet in the air, your foot naturally shifts in the direction of that weird angle. The left ankle could not compensate and . . . crunch.
I crumpled into a heap on the trampoline, clutching my left ankle. The pain was horrendous. The ankle swelled up and changed to a corpse-like gray color almost immediately.
As if the physical pain wasn’t bad enough, I felt obliged to keep a cool presence in front of my girlfriend and her family. The hit to the ego was an added layer of torture.
It took a few weeks on crutches, a physical therapist, and a series of painful exercises to slowly rehabilitate and strengthen the ankle. I was told the sprain was as bad as it could get without fracturing it. They said the ankle should heal okay, but it probably would not function the same way again.
They were wrong.
I kept exercising it and stayed active and mobile. It was painful and awkward at times, but I just kept moving. For several years, the ankle remained tight and not as flexible. Sometimes I felt a dull pain, but it diminished over time. Today, the ankle functions as normally as the other one, and I can barely feel the difference.
That reminder during my workout prompted me to contemplate the concept of pain, both physical and emotional. In the midst of the pain, it feels like it will never end. But no matter how bad the pain is, with proper treatment, it eventually lessens or goes away altogether.
All of us have injured ourselves at some point. It could be as simple as a paper cut or as intense as a major burn. With the proper treatment, although a scar may remain, the body is designed to heal itself.
Emotional wounds are more complex and nuanced, but the concept is the same. A romantic interest breaks our heart, someone we trust betrays us, or someone we cherish dies. All are emotional setbacks that can rip our psyches to shreds.
Some go to extreme lengths to stop their physical pain, such as an over-reliance on prescription medications. The opioid crisis currently gripping many parts of the United States is a case in point.
Some go to extreme lengths to stop their emotional pain by projecting their misery onto others, sometimes through violent acts, or even suicide. Drug addiction can also be a by-product of emotional pain.
Some people experience chronic physical pain and debilitating mental illness that a simple Medium story like this cannot resolve. My heart goes out to them. However, for most of us, time, motivation, and the proper treatment can either reduce or heal.
Note the key words “with the proper treatment”.
Paper cuts heal. Scrapes and bruises heal. Even surgery incisions heal.
That person who broke our heart in high school? It hurt like hell for awhile and then we healed and moved on.
That job promotion that went to the colleague who sucked up more and worked less than us? It stings for a bit, and then we heal.
Each wound we experience is a lesson in strength and resiliency. A physical or emotional scar likely remains, but all of us have the capacity to heal and move forward with our lives.
When life wounds us, treat it as a challenge to stay focused on the eventual results of the healing process. The scars represent a battle well-fought.
That process proved effective on my ankle, and now it is 99% perfect. The only difference is, when I put my feet flat on the ground and lift the fronts of them upward toward my shins as high as possible, the left one is a half inch lower than the right. Now that’s a scar I can live with.
And that girl I was trying to impress on the trampoline? That emotional wound healed too. Despite my boneheaded act, she married me anyway.
If you are reading this sentence, thank you for being with me until the end!
