When you’re going through a significant life event, a hectic period with your business, or just struggling with sleep for whatever reason, it all affects your nervous system. And the more sensitive your psychological makeup is to stress, the more you’ll feel these stressors in your body.
Knowing this might help you reframe your pain. To something that is caused by the sensitised nervous system. And not an actual physical issue of some sort.
You can also use this pain as a signal to focus on physical and non-physical activities and treatments that help you reduce stress and feel more relaxed.
And if possible, you could use these pain signals as a sign to make some fundamental changes in your life to reduce the sources of stress. Or, if that’s impossible right now, to try to find ways to reduce your stress response.
I am not saying that any of this is easy. Or that pain of any sort doesn’t suck (because it does!). Or that the pain is not real because it’s in your head. Because it is very much real when you feel it.
But sometimes, a small reframe makes the pain easier to deal with.
-J
ps. Obviously, prolonged pain is worth getting investigated by an appropriate professional with mad clinical skills and a deep understanding of pain science. If you ever struggle finding such a person, please let me know, and we can try to find someone to help you where you’re at.