What Nobody Tells You About Pain

Pain. We’ve all felt it. Whether in the form of an accidental toe snub that made you curse the existence of inanimate objects, or a crippling heartbreak that made you feel wrecked inside. Pain is an emotion we all inevitably encounter in life. But how often do we really talk about it?

Pain is an emotion we become intimately personal with, yet desperately want to escape from.

Nobody feels pain the same way. When your whole world comes crashing down, in that moment, you are alone. Nobody can really understand what you’re going through so it’s better just to suffer indefinitely. Often, pain isn’t even something that can be put into words.

When you’re out at brunch with friends, pain makes your laughter forced and your sighs heavy. Even if sympathy is elicited from the eyes of those around you, pain still finds a way to isolate you. Nobody can touch your pain. It’s an all-powerful domination you surrender to. Your other emotions can take a seat on the backburner. When pain comes, you can’t fight it. You can try, but it’ll leave you hollow.

Pain needs its moment of glory. It needs to shine bright enough to blind everything in its path. Because truth is, nobody realizes how insecure pain is. It doesn’t have the stability of happiness. That contagious warmth that wafts through a crowd of people. That grounded-ness as solid as the earth beneath us.

Happiness can be recalled from the past and reshaped for the future. It outlasts pain. Pain also doesn’t have the vitality we associate with anger. Anger that blossoms in crimson bursts. That feeds us passion and rage. That sharpens our senses as we feel our hearts burn with justice. Anger reveals our boundaries. It outgrows pain.

More importantly, pain can’t move us. Unlike sadness and its gentle sensitivity. Sadness that comforts us when we’re lost. Washing over us as we despair. Encompassing both the violent and subtle thoughts in our minds. Sadness resides in a small corner, coloring back beauty and light where it fades. It reminds us there is still hope. These emotions all have continuous roles throughout our lives. Pain does not.
Pain derives its power from the present. It suffocates you because it doesn’t have a place in your everyday life.

As human beings, we always overcome pain. Our survival instincts are fierce. And with that comes a moment. How, when or where is not relevant. But when that moment comes, you breathe again.

Slowly but surely, you move on. Time passes and you walk further away. By the time you look back, you can’t quite picture pain. The image you have of it is hazy. You realize it’s physically not possible for your brain to reconjure the effects of pain.

The ghostly shell left in your imagination does it no justice. That sort of anguish and agony is incomparable. Nobody tells you just how different pain is. It’s strong because it’s the most temporary of emotions.

So next time, remember pain. Amidst all the hurt and brokenness, know that this emotion is vulnerable. For when it vanishes, it vanishes without a trace.