Living with pain and/or discomfort from an injury can be challenging. The good thing is you know that at some point the injury will heal and (hopefully) the pain / discomfort will eventually fade. But living with chronic joint pain – as I’ve been experiencing with both my shoulder and one of my knees – has brought me to the edge of depression (again). I don’t talk much about it so friends don’t really know I’m going through it. That’s been my usual MO for years – keep it hidden; keep silent; just get through it.

But as the pain lingers, I’ve noticed that everything seems to have slowed down. I’ve gotten significantly less productive. I haven’t written in weeks. I can’t really exercise like I want to – no exercise bike, no sit-ups, etc. – so I’ve gotten even more sedentary than usual. There are days where I don’t take my dog for his daily walk because my knee aches too much, which makes HIM very unhappy!

I’ve said it numerous times – and you think I’d remember it (!) – depression can creep up on us and grab us by the throat when we least expect it. Health issues are a BIG trigger and living with pain can trigger depression quicker than you’d imagine. I guess that’s because our attention is on how we feel, not how we’re being or behaving. So we don’t notice until we’re in that deep pit once more, or standing at its edge.

Did I fall over the depressionn pit’s edge? Probably. Did I go down deep into the pit? No, I don’t think so. I think I (figuratively) landed on a shallow ledge and that’s when I finally noticed what had happened. Being able to be aware of what’s going on is a vital tool, an important resource to count on to help us see what’s going on so we don’t slide deeper into the depression pit’s chasm.

Having worked as long as I have to up my awareness, practicing mindfulness – these have become ingrained actions (sometimes passive actions to be sure but still active in the background) that I count on to help me recognize when I’ve gone off track, when I’ve slid down a slippery slope so to speak. Having those tools to count on have helped me stop any slide and begin to regain my balance and equilibrium again.

True, I’ve been on that ledge for a few weeks, or at least sliding towards it that long. But along the way, I kept wondering what was wrong, why I wasn’t getting things done, what I could do to get going again. The thing is, until you’re fully AWARE of what’s happened or what’s happening now, YOU CAN’T CHANGE ANYTHING! Awareness is vital to making any change in behavior or creating forward movement in our lives.

Being able to stop, to say “What’s really going on here?” and to take full stock, get the full picture / the full overview of what you’re dealing with is the first step to being enabled to make any real change. When you can do that – when you make the time to do that – you’ve taken the first solid step to help yourself. It’s the step needed to help you climb out of the pit and see the sunshine again, to see the good stuff that’s all around you again – the good things that we just can’t recognize or let in when we’re “stuck” in the pit.

Now, in case you think my doing this has stopped my pain / discomfort, think again. But the important thing for me has been this: taking stock, asking myself that question, has helped me start moving forward again. The evidence is here – in this post, the fact that I’ve written it says it all. I’m able to be in action again when I haven’t been for a few weeks.

It’s the little things we do for ourselves that make a BIG difference in our lives. When’s the last time you took stock, when you stopped and asked yourself what’s really going on, and made the time to pay attention? If you can’t remember the last time you did that, it’s DEFINITELY time to do it now! I can tell you that doing so just might change your day, even your life! Chances are that your depression / anxiety / stress could lighten up – maybe a lot – just by doing that one action.

Try it and see!