When I heard this podcast with Mel Robbins and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, it really resonated. I highly recommend giving it a listen and checking out his book/link, It Doesn’t Have to Hurt. Even if you’re not in pain right now, you might know someone who is—or at some point down the road, you might experience it yourself. And when that happens it’s worth asking: What am I thinking right now, consciously or deep down, subconsciously? Is it unsettling, negative, or unwanted? Is there something deep in my mind/life that I’m not addressing or avoiding? And could this be adding, perpetuating or even causing my pain?
I’ve had several moments where I knew I was experiencing a physical response caused by a mental thought, like a nervous situation causing an upset stomach. But the example below… well it sealed the deal for me. It showed how literally my brain and my thinking caused me real, crippling, physical pain. Please know, I’m not in any way suggesting that ALL physical pain is in our heads so to speak, but it’s worth considering that there may be times when it could be contributing to it.
My Pompeii Pain Story, it WAS all in my head! REALLY!
A few years ago we went to Rome for a dream trip. I planned out every single detail — right down to a colour-coded binder with printed itineraries, maps and back-up printed documentation. My phone was loaded with travel apps. I had a portable phone charger ready in my pocket. I pre-purchased tickets for major attractions, and even mapped out everything to make sure we could see it all… in just eight days.
We hit the streets right off the plane, and everything was great… until the next morning touring the Vatican… that’s when I started noticing sciatica pain. Note, I don’t normally have any sciatica issues, so I figured it was just from sitting awkwardly on the long flight — surely it would go away. So, I pushed on.
To give you an idea, at one point I was crouching down on the very crowed subway train floor on day 2, trying to relieve the pain. It was at this point we thought maybe it was from the cobblestones or all the walking. But that didn’t make sense — back home it’s not uncommon for us to walk 5km up to 25km in a day with no problem. Something else was going on.
By day three, the pain got worse. Way worse. To the point where I wasn’t eating — in Italy! I’m probably the only tourist who’s ever gone to Italy, (who LOVES pasta), and lost weight! Being the trooper that I am, I still dragged myself through the streets of Rome, because there was no way I was missing anything even with the pain.
Navigating the streets didn’t help my issue either. The Wi-Fi in Italy was terrible, and the mapping apps I used kept leading us in the wrong direction — sending us one way, only to tell us 15 minutes later to turn and go back the opposite way. Turns out, that’s actually a common issue there. But as the self-appointed, designated planner and guide, I refused to give up control and pushed on.
The night before our big day trip to Pompeii which has been on my bucket list for years — I was in excruciating pain. At that point, I was actually starting to question what was bothering me and causing the pain, but I couldn’t figure it out. I even said it out loud! Maybe I was just in denial? Either way, I was still in pain, but determined to go… there was NO WAY I was missing this! After three trains and way, way too much walking to find the right train, I somehow made it there. Every 20 or 30 feet, I had to stop and sit down on the 2,000-year-old filthy streets and doorways of the ancient city — that’s how much pain I was in. I didn’t even care that the grime and crud collected over two millennia was now in contact with the arse of my beloved pants.
The final straw came when I found myself practically lying on the ground in the Colosseum of Pompeii, staring up and saying, “So this is how the gladiators must’ve felt — praying to be put out of their misery — I relate!” (LOL, but not, I really did say that)
Ten minutes later, I surrendered. I finally figured out that trying to make everything perfect, organizing it all, and taking responsibility for something I didn’t need to take responsibility for and literally couldn’t do, was what had been causing my pain. I turned off the crappy self-guided tour on my phone, put away our earbuds, and said out loud, “That’s it. I’ll just follow you — you’ve got the paper map they gave us at the gate, and we’ll see what we see.”
And then we were both absolutely shocked by what happened — and how quickly! Within just 5-10 minutes of wandering the streets, the pain started letting up. I noticed I hadn’t sat down in a while, and suddenly, I could walk upright. A few minutes later I was practically skipping through the streets and climbing ancient stairwells! Walking out of Pompeii into an obviously overpriced tourist trap, I happily paid nine euros for a lemon slushy and pulled out a bag of packed ’emergency food’ (aka, hickory sticks) to celebrate! For tomorrow — was a full tour of the Coliseum and I would be pain free. Bring on the PASTA!
