Play Hurt

by KatieP, in category Head | Mindfulness

The athlete knows the day will never come when he wakes up pain-free. He has to play hurt. — Steven Pressfield

I am one of those people who got caught up in the whole “better feeling” movement. The one that tells us that happiness is feeling good all the time.

broken heartYou know what? I don’t feel good all the time. Sometimes I’m in physical pain, sometimes I’m sad, sometimes I’m cranky and sometimes I’m bored and listless.

There will never be a day when the thoughts in my head don’t tell me I’m not good enough, skinny enough or young enough. I can go around pretending otherwise but it wouldn’t be true.

The day will never come when I don’t wake up pain-free. Life doesn’t work that way.

Bugger.

But I’m not going to sit on the bench and watch from the sidelines. I’m here to play.

I’m playing hurt.

Because once I’m in the game I forget about the pain. When I’m with the people I love or I’m doing the things I love, the pain recedes into a quiet whisper that is easy to get used to.

What about you?

Are waiting for the day when you are pain-free before you get into the game. Or are you playing hurt?

About KatieP

Embracing my midlife sexy while exploring modern love & relationships • Devoted to all things beautiful • Master of Arts in creative writing & non-fiction writing

6 thoughts on “Play Hurt”

  1. I am just now learning about the pressure that I put on myself – to have a big fake smile plastered on my ALWAYS happy face as I pranced through my perfect life. The said thing is that I truly believed that was what I needed to do and that if I did that enough I would eventually love everything about my life.

    You know what I think now??? How BORING and how miserable. I would rather live a genuine life of substance. You know what Katie, that means playing HURT and loving what is real about me. Sometimes I am pissed off and feel fat and don’t want to smile and that is okay, and sometimes I wake up feeling beautiful and happy and like I am ready to love every minute of the day and those days are fabulous. That is normal. I would rather play HURT then play FAKE.

    Great post!

  2. I agree, there’s no point in waiting till life is painless. It’ll never happen. It’s putting off living.

    Well put Katie. Thanks again.

  3. Katie, I found your blog through Yes and Yes, and I’m just SO HAPPY that I did. Every single post I read touched my heart, and you are just a fabulous writer. I look forward to reading your book one day.

    Belly B 🙂

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