PAIN IN THE BUTT
You've said it, I've said it, everyone says it, "He or she is a pain in the butt. The more refined among us might say, "He or she is a pain in the neck.” The words may be different, the sentiment is the same - someone or something is most annoying or irritating or aggravating - nuisance - source of trouble pain to the one uttering the words.
I this case, I have a "pain in my buttocks" - a real pain caused by something or the other. It has been nagging, aggravating me, a nuisance for more than a year. The pain finally drove me to seek medical attention. I left my physician's office with these instructions: Rest the muscle, take this muscle relaxant for two weeks and a daily regimen of a prescription anti-inflammatory. I am compliant, especially when the pain is front and center. Woo-la! relief achieved.
Weeks later it was back. I conveniently forgot a key portion of the physician's instructions, "the anti-inflammatory is everyday not as needed. Recovery takes a while and lack of pain does not mean the problem is fixed." I had stopped taking the anti-inflammatory. I was not taking a recovery day between workouts. I repented and got the butt pain under control again.
The words you read above were written in the fall of 2021. The pain returned in the fall of 2022. I walked every day. I did not take rest days seriously. And the anti-inflammatory could not keep up with my inflammatory actions. I lived in painful denial until mid-January. I did not even bother crafting another email to the doctor. I copied and pasted what I had written in 2021 and added an additional sentence, "The pain level is affecting my quality of life." The response of the physician was exactly as it had been in 2021. Do you see the pattern?
Life is filled with a parade of annoying, aggravating people, and pains. I am seated in the grandstand draped with the colorful banners of my ego. The pains and people come and they go. I accept that! But when they come and perform a complete Broadway musical, as my pain does, action is required.
When your pain in the buttocks (physical, emotional, person, or thing) ceases to be more than a passing irritant, stop denying or minimizing its existence, acknowledge the toll on your quality of life. Then minimize your exposure or remove the irritant and when all else fails, remove yourself from the situation or seek help.
In my case, the muscle relaxant, anti-inflammatory and rest from walking seems to be doing the job. I wish it was this simple with the human pain in the buttocks.
Ephesians 4:3
PONDER THIS THOUGHT---- BOUNDARIES MINIMIZE IRRITANTS
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