Getting help when you’re feeling good
Have you heard this joke:
Person A: Hey, when are you going to fix that hole in your roof?
Person B: When it rains it’s too wet to fix. When it’s dry it’s just as good as any other roof.
Boy, jokes don’t translate so well into writing, do they? I remember chuckling when I first heard that one but I was also probably 12.
Lame humor aside, the point I’m making is that when it’s sunny you can trick yourself into thinking you don’t need to fix your roof because it’s working well enough. But once it rains and your home starts to flood, it’s hard to fix the roof because you’re dealing with the water coming in instead. Similarly, when you’re feeling ok you can trick yourself into thinking you don’t need help…until you’re not feeling ok, until your body starts to demand your attention, until you’re forced to address what’s going on and ask for help. That’s a hard place to be and a hard place to work.
If your body is already demanding your attention (which it does through pain and stress) that’s still a good time to reach out for help. But it’s not the only time. If you’re truly honest with yourself, even when you’re feeling pretty good, it’s ok to get help. From a place of wellness, working on your movement, your integration of body, mind and emotions, can help you feel even better and give you the skills to improve your conditions even when things get hard. Let’s work together when it’s sunny too. You’ll find it’s enjoyable work and you’ll reap the benefits of that work when it starts to rain again. It’s ok to ask for help when you’re feeling good. In fact, that will be the easiest time to ask for help.
For instance, let’s look at non-traumatic back pain, meaning your pain isn’t from an accident or injury of some kind. If you’ve often experienced pain in the past but are not experiencing it at the moment (or at least not much!), you probably won’t be looking for help. But that’s actually an excellent time to work! It’s much harder to work on improving your movement and improving the integration of your back when you’re in a lot of pain. In that state you have to work with your pain. Understanding how to work with your pain (as opposed to fighting it, which usually makes it worse) is an incredibly valuable tool but it’s not the easiest place to start.
In the case of emotional pain, when you’re already in an intense emotional state, be it stress, anxiety, depression, etc. it’s much harder to reach out and ask for/schedule help. But when you’re feeling ok you might fall into the sneakily comfortable belief that there’s nothing to work on…until your pain emerges again.
This is not to say you have to wait to feel good to ask for help. No sirree! Get help whenever you need it.
If you’ve experienced pain in the past (emotional or physical) don’t wait until you need help in the moment, ask for it beforehand. Ask for help with your roof when the sun is shining. The hole is still there even if there’s no rain coming in. If you’re feeling good now, this is a prime opportunity to build the skills you need to stay feeling good for a long time.