Pain is an Invitation

We take the pill. We numb. We get the cortisone shot. We reach for the thing that will make the pain go away.

And yes, there is a time and place for relief. But I wonder...

Have we trained ourselves to silence pain so quickly that we no longer listen to what it’s trying to say?

Our bodies speak.

They’re always communicating.

But we live in a world that tells us pain is the problem - something to fix, quiet, numb, avoid. Just make it stop.

The opioid epidemic shows us where that path can lead. So many stories start with a surgery, a procedure, a prescription 

and end with a life unraveling.

Not because people were weak,

but because they were hurting.

And we’ve forgotten how to listen to pain without needing to erase it.

Yesterday, I had basal cells removed from my face. A routine procedure. Two small spots. And still, when I left, I was handed a prescription for hydrocodone.

This morning, that bottle is sitting on my kitchen counter. And as someone who’s been sober for 15 years, I had to ask myself honestly:

Is the pain bad enough to take it?

The answer, for me, is no.

So I tossed the bottle.

But in that tossing, I paused.

Because this little ache in my face?

It’s saying something.

It’s reminding me to slow down.

To not bounce back into “normal” too quickly.

To honor that something happened.

That healing is happening. And my participation is important to the healing process.  

Pain, in this moment, is an invitation.

Not to suffer needlessly.

But to listen more deeply.

To choose rest.

To stay present.

To respond with care.

So today, instead of numbing out or pushing through, I’m choosing to listen.

To pray.

To move gently.

To let pain be a messenger, not a monster.

Because maybe pain isn’t here to punish us. Maybe it’s here to guide us home.