Summary

The text describes an individual's journey through resilience and endurance in the face of chronic illness and daily hardships, emphasizing the importance of surviving each day as a step towards healing and a better future.

Abstract

The narrative begins with a vivid depiction of a difficult morning, setting the tone for a day filled with challenges. It then transitions into a broader discussion on resilience, drawing a parallel between modern-day struggles and the endurance of our ancestors. The author shares a personal account of coping with Temporomandibular Joint Disorder and Hyperacusis, illustrating how focusing on survival from moment to moment can be a crucial strategy during periods of intense suffering. The text underscores the idea that while the present can be a source of pain, it can also hold beauty, and sometimes, simply enduring each day is a victory. The narrative concludes with the author's recovery, highlighting the transformative power of perseverance and the eventual arrival of a new beginning, symbolized by the metaphorical sunrise over the hill.

Opinions

The author believes that resilience is an inherent human trait, passed down from ancestors.
It is suggested that in the midst of overwhelming adversity, focusing on enduring each moment can be a necessary coping mechanism.
The text conveys that the mind and body possess the ability to heal, given sufficient time and mental space.
The author expresses that while living in the present is often recommended, there are times when looking forward to the future is what sustains hope.
The personal experience shared by the author implies that the journey to healing is nonlinear and can be a long-term process.
The author emphasizes that enduring each day is not just about survival but also about moving towards a brighter future, as symbolized by the sunrise.

Surviving The Day

Sometimes the most you can do is to solely resist in the face of suffering

You’ve opened your eyes. You start feeling a pain lingering in your back. You haven’t slept well. You are anything but rested, but you have to wake up, to annihilate the terrible noise that is made by your alarm clock. You raise fast from your bed, and start moving towards your desk, you slip. You moved too fast and your legs couldn’t keep up. You fall on the floor, in your mind you know, today is going to be shit, not just this thing but everything. The floor hits you, the pains spread through your body, and you wished you have changed that terrible song of the alarm clock on your phone.

A calamity over your head

Resilience

I think we all have days when we feel that we are hit with an avalanche of bad luck. Nothing works, and we may fail at a lot of things. For some, a day like this promulgates its existence even further evolving in months of sadness.

Getting out, from such a state is no easy feat. It may require a constant effort and an analysis of the root cause.

You have to try to survive. If you can’t imagine living like this, try thinking about how to live the next minute, even the next second.

We are more resilient than we think, our ancestors were the toughest of the human species. They gave us the gift of endurance, of being able to take a lot on our back.

My own experience

Back when I was sick, I couldn’t accept the idea that this was how my life will look, for months to come. My doctor said that healing may take about 2 years. I was suffering from Temporomandibular Joint Disorder. It had affected my hearing and vision to a serious degree. I also developed Hyperacusis. I was engulfed in pain and suffering. When the doctor said 2 years, my world started to crumble, 2 years sounded like an eternity for me.

I managed to live with myself, just trying to survive the day. To be able to just focus on doing whatever I can, so I won’t have to think too much.

Sometimes being completely engaged so that you manage to live for another day, can be the only option you have. For me, nothing really seemed to decrease my acute sadness. The only thing that would put a smile on my face, would be the thought that I managed to resist the hardships of another day.

I am not saying that you should use this approach with any sort of problem. But, there are times when only this works. For some people, including me at that time, simply having to think about my life and my problems, was incredibly painful.

I needed a period to let my mind adapt, to let my unconscious reconfigure my reality in such a way that I could bear my current condition.

The present at times might be beautiful, and worth focusing on. But other times, when your only hope is what the future holds, living for another day may be the answer.

The sunrise over the hill

Days have passed and bit by bit, the illusion that my disease will be my companion for eternity seemed unlikely. I was getting better and I was even more motivated to endure whatever some days had prepared for me.

I could see a light and I was slowly but surely stumbling towards it. That is the trick, to not let yourself be pinned by your suffering. Your mind and body have the capacity to heal themselves, but they need time. Sometimes you have to buy that time for them, by not letting your pain overflow the spaces of your mind.

I was buying time, not paying attention to the sadness that was still ever-present in the inner parts of my mind. The hill that seemed impossible to be passed, was within my reach. I could see a sunrise, a new beginning. After about 1,5 years in which I dragged myself to be able to resist each day, I finally reached my destination. My condition changed, I could hear the parade that my mind sang in the glory of my healing. I was glowing from inside out. The sunrise that was in front of me was truly beautiful.

I hope you manage to see the sunrise from your life and to be able to survive the day.