As an expecting mom due with her first baby in 5 weeks, I hear a lot of statements that I’m sure many of you have heard. Things like “get your sleep in now” or “I’ll bet you’re just ready for this to be over” or “just wait till…” you can fill in the blank. In my first trimester, a mom carried on about how much she missed the baby phase of her daughter. Of course, she followed it up with how she loved her older daughter now, but it’s hard when it simply feels like the appropriate follow up to a statement like that. Every season is precious, and I never want to forget that. If we spend all of our time in longing for a future season, or wishing for a past one, we miss all the blessings of the present.
One of my favorite verses is Ecclesiastes 3:11, which states “He has made everything beautiful in its time”. This follows a passage talking about how every season, good, bad, hard, easy, sad, or joyful has its place and time. It wasn’t until a mom recently mentioned how her friend genuinely missed feeling the baby in her womb that I realized how short of a time I had left to carry this little one inside of me. Sooner than I realize, I will no longer feel it’s soft kicks, hiccups, and little nudges. While we are very excited for this baby to come, and pray for good health and delivery, I don’t want to find myself wishing this season will just be over for the next month. There will be more pregnancies, God willing, but there will never be this pregnancy with this first child ever again.
What’s this got to do with my pelvic floor?
As many of you well know, in addition to pelvic floor symptoms, we work a lot on one’s nervous system, stress, and emotional regulation. These impact every aspect of our healing process and experience during. Understanding and managing pain is an emotionally tasking and vulnerable experience. Sometimes we can just hope that this season will end, looking forward to the future when symptoms are magically gone, or looking back to our life before it was burdened with a postpartum body, menopause, or a physically traumatic incident. But what does that do for our mind? Our body? Our well-being? Are we giving our bodies the chance to heal when we’re actively opposing them in our mind?
How can I find joy in chronic pain? How do I balance missing my old self while accepting the new?
Someone once said that we must not feel the need to rejoice and be thankful FOR everything, simply that we ought to learn how to love and give thanks IN every situation. I cannot compare my pregnancy experience with someone who is dealing with lifelong pain. And I believe it is healthy and normal to long for the time when you could do your favorite activities without a home program to manage symptoms. The time when you felt more like you. Hopefully, you can glean from these statements below to help you along in your acceptance and healing journey.
“I am able to know more about my body than ever before, because I am finally listening.”
“My life has changed, bringing new things to the surface that my younger self wasn’t ready to handle.”
“I am grateful to have a loving and supporting healthcare team and community in this time of what would otherwise be lonely suffering.”
“I may not look, feel, or act the same as I once did, but I am still fully and unashamedly me.”
“Healing may be slow, but I have this opportunity to know myself and be more empowered than ever before.”
“My body served me well in protecting me in the past, but now it is safe to breathe, heal, and be loved.”
Walking the line of acceptance, love, and thankfulness is one of the hardest parts of the journey. Oftentimes, it’s harder than the symptoms bringing you in or the discomfort of the treatment you receive. Let’s walk it together one step at a time!
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,Ecclesiastes 3:3b-4
Blessings,
Kaylen and your Moment of Truth Team
0 comments