Playing Through Pain

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials" (James 1:2 NASB)

I get many inspirations through running.  Although, jogging can be hot, tiring, and painful, it gives me a great opportunity to clear my mind and think about life decisions.  It's also a great chance to pray because it limits the number of distractions in my life.  Perhaps the only distractions during the jog would be the occasional dog who may bark at me in the neighborhood or a car travelling on my street.  Yet I focus on finishing the run.

Last week I went running and began to develop a migraine headache.  I've had them for years on occasion.  I have what would be called "classic migraines" in that I have an "aura" or warning that a headache is coming.  For me, this aura involves having blurred vision in my left visual field.  This usually occurs several minutes before the headache comes.  The first time this occurred to me years ago I thought I was having a stroke.  Now I don't panic when the blurred vision occurs but simply take some Tylenol as soon as possible.  In most instances the blurred vision goes away after a few minutes and the headache never develops.

However, during this instance while running, I was not sure what to do.  The blurred vision started shortly after my run and I had no access to Tylenol.  In addition, the run was on a straight street.  Thus the farther I ran in one direction, the farther I would have to run to get back to my car.  So, I had a couple of options.  For example, I could stop running and walk back to the car.  On the other hand, maybe I could shorten the length of my run and get back to the car as soon as possible.   That's exactly what I decided to do.  Try to run at least a minor distance and then treat the blurred vision and impending headache as soon as possible.  So, I ended up running only a little over a mile. 

Yet, to my surprise, as I got closer and closer to my car, the blurred vision began to dissipate. It was practically gone when I got to the car.  I imagine I took some Tylenol at that point but it impressed me in that I had worked through my discomfort while running.  In other words, I had done as some athletes would proclaim, I had "played through the pain".

Playing through pain, that's how we sometimes have to live our lives.  Keep going, keep moving, in spite of the discomfort.  Don't let the affliction afflict you. Sometimes life hurts and illness or circumstances try to bog us down.  Yet, when we reach the finish line in accomplishing a task (in spite of the difficulties), there is much joy.  I'm sure I would have felt good about myself if the run had not been eventful.  However, after completing the run under adverse circumstances, I felt fantastic, not only for finishing the jog but for learning something new about life as well.

To learn more about my victory over adverse circumstances, check out my book, "A Place I Didn't Want To Go: My Victory Over Cancer' on Amazon and Kindle.  It can be accessed at:

http://www.amazon.com/Place-Didnt-Want-Go-Victory/dp/0983453624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324565593&sr=1-1