Dealing With Pain

Today I have been dealing with pain, which I do quite differently than most people. In this case it is lower back, nerve pain and minor sciatica. Rather than taking medication to reduce or eliminate the pain so I can continue whatever activity I was involved in, I purposely avoid taking medication so that I can "listen" to the pain and act accordingly, usually halting the behavior that I was doing and that caused the pain. I was doing a lot of raking and other strenuous activity and the pain was telling me to slow down, take it easy and get more in touch with my emotions (fear of possible outcomes after the election, in this case). As a result my behavior changes and the pain diminishes, going from a 4 or 5 to a 2.