Life gets away from us all I suppose...
People with chronic pain live with disappoinment and failure in situations non
For everything humans do in life there is an expectation. "I expect to get up and walk to the kitchen for a glass of water". For the average person this expectation never manifests itself concretely, right? You just get up and get a glass of water. It doesn't require thought. This is where the line between chronic illness sufferers and "typical" or average health people gets very very sharp and dicey. This is where people truly expect you to be able to function and cannot understand what it feels like to not be able to just get up and get a glass of water.
This is where those who love or care for people with chronic pain need to "live" and be aware of. It's not usually the big stuff that gets us down. If someone says they can't go on a mile long walk because of their illness or pain people are more likely to understand that. That level of strain is comprehendible. Even those of us with CP don't feel as bad about backing out of something overly physical. But not being able to get off the couch to turn the fan off (because you're freezing in 80 degree weather) is difficult if not impossible to understand unless you've been there. Everyone gets sore or achey from too much activity at some point in your life but you know it's temporary, you know what caused it and chances are you can still get up and move, you just don't want to. The opposite of those three statements is the truth chronic illness sufferers live with their entire lives. It's permanent. You often have no idea what caused this particular flare. You cannot get up and move no matter how much you want to.
