MY BLOGS

It’s already February and we are skidding at full speed into 2021. How are you faring with your New Year resolutions? What New Year’s Resolutions come to mind? What did you plan to do different this year? Or have you given up like a lot of us especially when the pain consumes your mind?

But it’s never too late. Scripture tells us in Ecclesiastes 11:4 “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.” Every day is a new day, a fresh-start day, a second or third or nth chance to start over, to do different and better. God’s mercies are new every day. We’re going to make a change to our lives this year through a Pain Management Plan.

When I was in deep pain, thinking about and planning for the future was disheartening and drained my energy. I wasn’t able to care about goals for my life. Though, the thought of living without pain, was appealing enough to engage me in a Pain Management Plan and goal setting. The idea of less pain gave me hope.

What hope are you holding onto right now? Hope for a proper diagnosis in 2021, confirming you are not crazy, but the pain is real? Or a wonder drug with no side-effects to magically “poof” the pain away? Do you wish for a pain free moment without being drugged? To feel normal? Maybe you can’t even recall what normal feels like.

Hope keeps us alive and gives us a purpose. Here’s the thing, we can’t just sit and hope for pain to diminish. I learned that I could take practical steps to assist with minimizing the pain.

Let’s take charge of what we can control. Let’s compile a Pain Management Plan to guide us to live purposefully and intentionally. Intentional living, though hard, brings purpose, creates order, generates peace, and diminishes pain. Intentional living helps us to Live Light (Look out my upcoming blog series about Live Light in future).



If a Pain Management Plan and goal-setting sounds too overwhelming, that is okay. But stay with me for a while. I am not asking for Everest-sized goals−I am talking small steps. Some of us need to learn to walk again, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Each one of us is a holistic human being with a soul (spiritual aspect), heart (seat of our feelings, emotions, values and the core of who we are), mind (how our brain processes thoughts, emotions and pain) and a physical body. Our physical body is influenced by medications, diets, exercise, environment, stress, and our emotions and feelings. These four components of our being are intertwined with each other. Therefore, planning to improve one facet of our lives but not the others, is futile.

My Pain Management Plan is broken down into four main categories: Physical Recovery, Mind Work, Emotional Health and Spiritual Growth.

What is your biggest wish right now? To know what is wrong with you? To walk two or ten or one hundred steps? To communicate with your family about your pain? To experience a pain free moment without drugs? To have at least four to six hours of consecutive sleep? Let’s find out how we can break the above into different categories for our Pain Management Plan.

In today’s session we will tackle the Physical Recovery. How to find out what is wrong with you? And how to get back into getting stronger and exercise?

Physical Recovery:

1. If you want to know what is wrong with you, start being an advocate for your own health. You are the knowledgeable one about your levels of pain. Find a compassionate physician. Pursue a Chronic Pain Specialist Physician with a holistic approach to your health in all earnest. Chronic Pain Specialists are compassionate because most of them have personal experience with chronic pain as well.

I have seen more than ten different doctors and specialists. From the family physician, to a Neurologist, Rheumatologist and Orthopedic specialist, the list goes on. I even consulted the best Medical School Hospital in my region. Still nobody could determine the cause of my pain. They suggested surgeries (sometimes unnecessary) or new treatments focusing on their own specialty. But they failed me as a holistic human being.

It may be a journey−finding the right doctor for you but being your own health advocate and finding the right Chronic Pain Specialist is a life changing investment in your health.

I have compiled a list of practitioners who specialize in a holistic approach to Chronic Pain across the United States and some internationally. Find the list by clicking on this link.

2. Improve your physical mobility or strength. Set a small goal to build your confidence in your bodily strength. My first goal was to be able to dress myself, then to be able to walk a few steps further than I walked the day before. Take your first step in increasing your mobility and strength today.

Thank you for your time today. Let me know what you contemplate to be your first steps in your physical recovery process. I would love to hear from you and work with you.

Next week we will discuss the second component of the Pain Management Plan, called Mind Work and how understanding your pain will assist in your communication about your pain. We will also explore on how to experience a pain free moment.

Please sign up for my email list below. I will alert you next week when my next post goes live. I pray for each one of you. Stay strong dear friend.

Anita Beukman

Your Hope Coach.