Playing Through Pain

I have a bunion on my left foot (thanks, Mom!) and recently it’s started causing me grief again. It started out as an irritating discomfort, then it became more painful and finally, it got really red and blistered. When I woke up this morning, it was pretty bad - swollen, red, purple and my big toe joint was really sore. 

I was getting ready to go to the gym after I got the kiddos off to school and it hurt just walking around in my bedroom. I wondered how I was going to be able to get through my cardio with this pain. I found the blister pads and my bunion sleeve that I wear in my shoes and I put my socks on and found my widest toe box shoes. It was painful but it wasn’t debilitating so I decided that the show must go on. Yeah, it hurts but sometimes you have to do painful things.

As I was lacing up my shoes and thinking about the fact that sometimes we have to do things even when they’re painful I realized the correlation between my little foot injury and life. Over the last several years, I’ve experienced a great deal of pain and struggle in my life. There were days, weeks, months, when I didn’t think I could go on. I was sore from the pain. I was exhausted and weary from the constant struggle. There were many times that I just wanted to stay in bed and hide and wait until the storm was over. But that’s not an option in life.

We have to play through pain. We have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. We have to be strong and persevere through the most painful times, through the darkest nights. I didn’t feel strong enough to keep playing most days. Fortunately, I had the encouragement from others to keep going (even though sometimes their words seemed so cliche I wanted to punch them in the throat). Playing through pain is what strengthens us. If life is always easy, we don’t grow, we don’t develop character. Our pain makes us gentler, kinder and more compassionate. This world needs more of that. 

That pain you’re going through is making you into the person you are meant to be. It is not easy. It is not fun. But there is always a purpose for good for the pain you’re going through. 

When life hurts the most, keep playing.