I was diagnosed, over twenty years ago, with fibromyalgia. The VA had me on Vicodin and Soma for 22 years. With two or three years of weekly, then monthly, visits with two different, at different times, clinical psychologists, and getting clean and sober in AA, I have, without having it as a conscious goal, learned to simply relax, be serene, content, no longer fighting “everything and everyone”.

If I direct my attention to how my body feels, as I’m doing right now, I can feel some pain, some soreness, in my neck and arm muscles, just from holding my smartphone and bending my neck to look at it.

The difference being that now I don’t dwell on it, I don’t focus on it. I’ve noticed it, because I’m writing, thinking about it, but when I finish writing this response, and move on to something else, I’ll have forgotten it.

I suppose that it could be said that I simply “ignore it”, or perhaps more accurately, concentrate on something else.

Focusing, dwelling, on it, after not very long increases the perceived intensity of the pain. I’ve accepted that it’s always going to be there. I’ve also accepted that I can just focus on other things and even when I do feel it, assign it a realistic level of importance, which is, all things considered, negligible.

I do, however, understand, from experience, how the perception of the pain can grow and grow, becoming overwhelming.

I’m going to share this essay on my Facebook page. It couldn’t hurt to just “put it out there”, but I don’t expect my faceplace friends to instantly “see the light”.

This is only my, personal, experience, and I’m sure that I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.

Good luck with a difficult phenomenon.

Peace Love Kindness Respect the more you give the more you get 😍 start with yourself 😉 because you deserve it ❤️🙏🏼