When Pain Changes Your Posture

Photo by Sabra Marie Photography

Today is my sixty-fourth birthday and I am grateful to be alive.  There are so many things today that can easily take someone out. Just a few months ago I went to the emergency hospital because I was experiencing a lot of pain, and I had no idea what was wrong and what was causing all the pain I was in. I was in the emergency room for close to fourteen hours before I was seen and diagnosed with what was wrong with me. Before I knew it, I was wheeled upstairs for surgery pronto. What I learned is that when you are experiencing excruciating pain it can change your posture.

Have you ever noticed how pain changes the way we carry ourselves? When our bodies hurt, whether it is our back, our knees, or even a small muscle strain, we naturally adjust. We walk slower, we lean to one side, or we bend forward to ease the discomfort. Pain can change our posture. But what is true for our physical bodies is also true for our lives. Pain whether emotional, spiritual, or relational, can either weigh us down, leaving us bent and broken, or it can become the very thing that pushes us to realign and stand tall again.

 

Think about the times you have seen someone walking with a limp or hunched shoulders. Their body language tells the story of what they are carrying. In the same way, when we go through heartbreak, disappointment, loss, or betrayal, it shows up in our “posture.” We may not realize it, but the pain inside can cause us to shrink back, carry ourselves timidly, or withdraw from the world around us. A broken heart can cause someone to fold in on themselves. A financial struggle can cause us to hang our heads. Even spiritual wounds like unanswered prayers or a sense of abandonment can cause us to walk through life bent over by the weight of our questions.

 

But pain does not only bend us, sometimes it corrects us. Just like physical therapy retrains our bodies to strengthen weak areas and stand properly, life’s pain can realign our values, our priorities, and our choices. The pain of a broken relationship may teach us the importance of healthy boundaries. The pain of illness can remind us to care for our bodies and not take life for granted. The pain of failure can teach us resilience and the discipline to try again with greater wisdom. Pain has the power to make us stand taller, not because it is pleasant, but because it demands our attention. It calls us to face what is broken and find new strength in the healing.

 

Our posture is more than how we hold our shoulders or backs. It is also how we present ourselves to the world, our attitude, our spirit, and our outlook on life. If we let pain have the final say, it will keep us bent over, unable to see possibility, unable to look others in the eye, unable to see beyond our suffering. But if we allow pain to become a teacher, it can straighten us up. It can shift us from bitterness to gratitude, from defeat to determination, from despair to hope. In the same way that good posture opens our lungs so we can breathe more deeply, good spiritual posture opens our hearts so we can live more fully. One of the most powerful images is watching someone who once walked bent over finally stand tall again. Maybe it was after a successful surgery. Maybe it was the first time they walked without a cane. The smile on their face says it all.

We, too, can experience that kind of freedom in our spirits. Standing tall does not mean the pain never happened. It means the pain no longer controls our posture. It means we have faced the hard thing, learned the lesson, and are walking forward with renewed strength. Pain is unavoidable. None of us can escape it. But we can choose how it shapes us. Will it cause us to walk bent over for the rest of our days, or will it be the very thing that teaches us how to stand tall again? When we allow pain to change our posture in the right way, it no longer becomes a burden we carry but a guide that teaches us how to live upright in both body and spirit. #overcomingpain #betterposture #birthday #grateful

Wendy is The Purpose Partner, Life Strategist, Coach, Consultant, Author, and Speaker.

Healing Without Hate: It's a choice. It's a lifestyle. Pass it on. Visit www.WendyGladney.com and www.forgivingforliving.org to learn more.