A space to
be heard.
A moment for you.

For a while, I became used to having a stiff, aching neck. The discomfort was there, keeping me company, until it no longer seemed like something that deserved attention. It became part of my days. And, almost without noticing, I made it part of who I was.

We can get used to so many things. Moving carefully, finding a less uncomfortable position, carrying on with what needs to be done while our body hurts. I carried on with my life, and the pain carried on with me. I knew it so well that I had almost stopped questioning it.

Why had I made it part of me? When had I started confusing getting used to something with being well?

When I received treatment, another question arose: how much time in pain might I have avoided if I had sought care sooner? I cannot know. But the question made me look differently at all the time I had spent living with that discomfort.

My spine has degenerative changes. My body has changed over the years. That is part of my story, but I do not want it to become a reason to stop looking after myself. Just because something feels familiar does not mean I have to accept it without exploring what I can do.

Today I think about how easily we turn pain into a habit. We arrange our schedules, our movements and our lives around it. Sometimes imagining a change feels harder than continuing to bear what we already know.

I ask myself these questions with kindness towards the woman who kept going as best she could. And with a wish to listen to myself more closely and not wait so long to ask for help next time.

Final reflection: our bodies changing with age does not mean we must resign ourselves to pain without doing anything. Caring for ourselves can begin by no longer calling “normal” what we have become used to enduring.