I'm not sure if anybody else has spoken about this cause I'm not in any chronically ill/chronic pain/joint pain circles but like, can we talk about the fact that sometimes not taking the precautions and stuff for your chronic health problem is just like a coping mechanism? Like the fact is, regardless of if I do my stretches and exercises I'll still have pain days, I'll still have flare up but at least I can pretend that it's because I don't do my strengthening exercises and if I would just do that it would stop. I can pretend that I have the power to stop this. Like I'm 22 and now putting this into words but I've been doing this for years and let me tell. It's so much easier to be like my back's hurting cause i haven't done my stretches in month than to acknowledge that shit I'm 15 and regardless of what I do my joints will still feel likes I'm in my late 40s and only get worse. It's so much easier to think this is the consequences of my own inaction than to swallow the fact that I am stuck with pain meds and braces and stretches and strengthening exercises from my teens til eternity and even if i do all that a busted radiator on a cold day still means i can't move my arm. I'm still stuck with the dread of if i feel like this in my 20s when my peers are healthy, how will i feel when i reach the age the average person starts feeling joint pain? The precautionary things slow things down and makes it more bearable but it's not a cure, there is no cure and this is a consequence I can end if I just took better care of myself is an easier pill to swallow than the daunting knowledge that I live like this and I will die like this regardless of what I do.
