I don’t think I can answer that completely without a great deal of thought, but here’s for starters…
I’ve found that physical pain is a lot easier to deal with than emotional pain—I think almost anyone would agree. Most physical pain can be dealt with (at least to some degree) using drugs. There was a period in which medication did nothing to dull my pain…at that time, the best I could do was to bear with it and try to distract myself. You can learn to live with a lot of physical pain—your mind adjusts its view of what is normal after a while, and pain doesn’t mean as much.
Emotional pain, on the other hand, dominates in a much more overwhelming way. It’s not something that you can easily distract yourself from, and the body does not seem to adjust to it as well. When you hurt emotionally, it is all you can think about. I think my main strategy for dealing with this was to talk about it—mostly with family, but occasionally with friends. I had days at a time where all I could talk about was my "why"s and my disappointments. Thankfully, I was blessed with a very patient family, and they listened to my endless attempts to deal with my anger and hurt. I moaned to God—yelled at him, even—just to be sure he was aware of my displeasure at my situation. But he chose to keep largely silent. He showed me small ways in which my struggle was making a difference in the lives of others, but chose not to fully answer my questions.
Somehow, sharing your hurts and having someone listen and sympathize makes a big difference. They don’t have to give you answers, they just need to listen. I never did find answers, but I finally managed to come to peace that, for some reason, God chose to put this event in my life. And even if he never reveals his reasons to me, I know he’s got a plan… But it takes a long time to come to peace with that.
Everyone has a different method of coping, but talking seemed to me mine. Is that what you were looking for?
Sheri
Nov 26 2002
05:20 am
I don’t think I can answer that completely without a great deal of thought, but here’s for starters…
I’ve found that physical pain is a lot easier to deal with than emotional pain—I think almost anyone would agree. Most physical pain can be dealt with (at least to some degree) using drugs. There was a period in which medication did nothing to dull my pain…at that time, the best I could do was to bear with it and try to distract myself. You can learn to live with a lot of physical pain—your mind adjusts its view of what is normal after a while, and pain doesn’t mean as much.
Emotional pain, on the other hand, dominates in a much more overwhelming way. It’s not something that you can easily distract yourself from, and the body does not seem to adjust to it as well. When you hurt emotionally, it is all you can think about. I think my main strategy for dealing with this was to talk about it—mostly with family, but occasionally with friends. I had days at a time where all I could talk about was my "why"s and my disappointments. Thankfully, I was blessed with a very patient family, and they listened to my endless attempts to deal with my anger and hurt. I moaned to God—yelled at him, even—just to be sure he was aware of my displeasure at my situation. But he chose to keep largely silent. He showed me small ways in which my struggle was making a difference in the lives of others, but chose not to fully answer my questions.
Somehow, sharing your hurts and having someone listen and sympathize makes a big difference. They don’t have to give you answers, they just need to listen. I never did find answers, but I finally managed to come to peace that, for some reason, God chose to put this event in my life. And even if he never reveals his reasons to me, I know he’s got a plan… But it takes a long time to come to peace with that.
Everyone has a different method of coping, but talking seemed to me mine. Is that what you were looking for?