Working and Living with Chronic Pain

Apr 29

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In one of the chronic pain support groups to which I belong, someone asked the question today, “How do you find meaning in a life wrecked by chronic pain?”

This was my answer:

“For me, I serve my Gods. That’s not something that stops bc I have chronic pain. Also, I think it keeps me humble—irritable but humble. My chronic pain started as a result of a ballet career and significant body damage, injury, etc. that came from that (the fibromyalgia came later) so it’s like warrior marks. This is the path I travelled and that path wound for years through something that I loved (dancing) more than life itself. I tell people that for 13 years I could fly. Remembering that it came from something I loved, something to which I had dedicated my life, for me, psychologically makes it better. But oh there are days, days where I just want to curl up and die, but I remind myself of the blessings that I have been given in my life and the work I still have to do for the Gods I love.”

And that’s really it. Service to my Gods isn’t conditional on how I’m feeling, and no matter how bad it gets, that devotional connection is a light in the darkness. So for those of you reading this who also have chronic pain, don’t give up. Take it one day at a time and do what you can do, even if that’s just a whispered prayer or lighting a candle. Your value to your Gods is not dependent on having a perfect body.

About ganglerisgrove

Galina Krasskova has been a Heathen priest since 1995. She holds a Masters in Religious Studies (2009), a Masters in Medieval Studies (2019), has done extensive graduate work in Classics including teaching Latin, Roman History, and Greek and Roman Literature for the better part of a decade, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Theology. She is the managing editor of Walking the Worlds journal and has written over thirty books on Heathenry and Polytheism including "A Modern Guide to Heathenry" and "He is Frenzy: Collected Writings about Odin." In addition to her religious work, she is an accomplished artist who has shown all over the world and she currently runs a prayer card project available at wyrdcuriosities.etsy.com.

Posted on April 29, 2020, in Lived Polytheism, Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.

  1. Sparrow | April 29, 2020 at 11:29 AM

    Very beautiful post, Galina. Thank you for sharing this. ❤

    Like

  2. Petros | April 29, 2020 at 3:13 PM

    I hear you Galina. My decades of physical training and my time in the infantry have left my body pretty beat up. The gods have never seen the need to remove the pain or heal old
    injuries, so I’ve had to choose a different strategy: I offer them my pain.

    Like

  3. alexeigynaix | April 30, 2020 at 12:55 AM

    I really needed to hear that today; thank you

    Like

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