Let’s Get Physical

The Body Whispers Before It Shouts

Comfort can change in the length of an afternoon.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

A chair feels fine until my back objects. A room feels pleasant until the air conditioner quits. A pair of shoes I have worn for years can suddenly begin rubbing the wrong place. Nothing dramatic has happened, but my body has revised its opinion.

Everything is relative when it comes to comfort.

A hard mattress may feel wonderful after sleeping on the floor. A warm room may feel soothing to one person and unbearable to another. One person barely notices a stiff knee. Another person has learned to plan the entire day around one.

Our bodies keep their own records.

They remember old injuries, surgeries, long hours, missed sleep, hard work, grief, worry, and age. They also notice smaller matters we may overlook. A change in appetite. A little dizziness. My ache lingering longer than usual. Shoes fitting differently by evening. A sound in the ears no one else can hear.

Most of us become experts on our own normal.

We know how our knees usually feel when we stand. We know how much sleep allows us to function. We know whether a headache is familiar or unusual. We know when our stomach is merely complaining and when it is filing a formal grievance.

Paying attention matters.

Paying too much attention can become a problem in itself.

Every twitch does not predict disaster. Every tired afternoon does not signal a serious illness. Bodies are noisy. They creak, swell, itch, stiffen, flutter, and occasionally behave as though they have called a meeting without consulting us.

Balance lies somewhere between ignoring the body and interrogating it.

Tuning in means noticing what has changed without immediately assuming the worst. It means asking a few calm questions.

Is the discomfort new?

Is it getting worse?

Does it interfere with sleep, walking, eating, breathing, or ordinary life?

Has it stayed long enough to deserve medical attention?

Gentleness belongs in the process.

Many of us talk to our bodies in ways we would never speak to another person. We call ourselves weak, lazy, clumsy, old, or useless. We become irritated because the body cannot do what it once did without complaint.

Yet the body has carried us a long way.

It has survived bad decisions, hard seasons, illness, sorrow, work, and whatever private burdens we never explained to anybody. It has healed wounds without applause. It has kept the heart beating while we slept and the lungs working while our minds wandered somewhere else.

The body is not an enemy simply because it has limits.

Limits may require adjustment. A slower pace. A better chair. A different meal. More rest. A doctor’s appointment. A handrail. A hearing aid. A little humility.

None of those things amounts to defeat.

Comfort is not always the absence of pain. Sometimes, comfort is finding a position where the pain settles down. Sometimes it is accepting help. Sometimes it is admitting that a task has become too much. Sometimes it is about allowing the body to age without treating old age as a personal failure.

We do not have to worship comfort. Growth often asks us to stretch, move, exercise, recover, and tolerate temporary inconvenience.

Nor do we have to prove our strength by suffering unnecessarily.

The body often whispers before it shouts.

Wisdom is not panicking at every whisper.

Wisdom is not pretending we heard nothing.

Wisdom is leaning closer and listening with kindness.

When life deals you a marching band, make parade-ade.

Stupid enough to survive.

[embed]Illumine My Powers I spent years asking God to change what was happening around me. Then one morning, I noticed the prayer was asking Him…medium.com

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Retired now, with more than four decades of experience as an addiction counselor walking alongside men and women in recovery, I like to write about faith, human dignity, aging, and the fact that every struggle hides a longing for meaning.

I am a member of the Baha’i Faith and believe that unity and compassion are essential to healing. I write about addiction to substances, recovery, and the thistles of the soul. Human rights are God-given rights.

If you’ve worked with addiction or lived through it, I’d be glad to hear what you’ve learned.

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