Distractions are a wonderful thing

Distractions are a wonderful thing, especially when dealing with joint pain. Instead of focusing what is causing my shoulder pain for this post, I'm going to share some of the more positive things going on right now.

This morning Charissa and I were waiting for her eye doctor to come in the room and we started talking about her birthday. I asked her if she knew what month she was born. She replied "July" so I asked her was day. She replied " 11th" so I followed up with what year. She comes back with "every year" which made me laugh. She was right though as we celebrate her birthday every year, it just wasn't the answer I was expecting.

My kids are a great source of distraction for me. They make me laugh every day in one way or another.  She recently read her first real chapter book and got a 90% on the test. She had a huge smile on her face and I was thrilled she did so well since she was hesistent to take the test in the first place. Joseph tells me he is already on chapter 6 of his first Hardy Boys book that he started yesterday with a huge smile on his face. He is so excited to be reading this book and I am excited he wants to read since I know he is a great reader. Like any child, he just has to be interested in the book.  Cynthia was making me laugh last night at dinner. Josh picked up a Taco box from Taco Bell for dinner, I know not the healthyest but I had a migraine. Cynthia preceeds to read all the sayings on the various hot sauce packets and puts 4 milds on one Taco. I made her laugh when I asked her if she was having any taco with her sauce. For her first taco, she gave the mild sauce to Joseph but instead of saying mild she called it the "baby" sauce. This made Josh and I both laugh as Josh called mild salsa "baby" salsa the other day.  Aren't kids great at picking up everything we say and do whether we like it or not?

Often times on a particularly bad day, I use distraction as a way to not focus on my joint pain instead of reaching for any meds I may have in the house. Sometimes this works in my favor. Sometimes it back fires so when I do finally break down and take some meds for relief, they wake me up when I should be sleeping.

Napping is another great distraction my body uses to cope. I remember when my kids were younger it was a battle to go get them to take a nap. Even now it is a battle when we have one of them lay down because we know they need one badly.  As an adult I still fight naps at times, focrcing my eyes open when they start to shut while I am reading instead of giving in and crashing. Due to my various chronic illness, my body will shut down on me nearly every day and force me to take a nap. Usually this is some time between noon and 2pm. If I miss that nap time, my body will force me to crash at some point. Yesterday I missed it due to a pain management doctor appointment so my body crashed on me when I got home instead.  I really think for high pain or chronic pain situations, naps are your body's way of distracting you from it and forcing you to slow down. At least for me this often seems to be thie case.

Regardless of what I use too distract me, and there are many more things I use, the art of distraction is a very useful tool I use when coping with my ongoing pain in my joints. I just need to work on when it is appropriate to use distraction versus when I really should take meds to relieve my symptoms. It's an ongoing process.

Until tomorrow.