Chronic Pain’s Victim

Psalm 149:4 - For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.

​Your hands shake.
Your blood pressure is elevated.    
You feel your heart beat racing through your body wanting to escape what is to come.
 
And what is coming? Another pain flare-up.
 
Sometimes there are ways in which we can make our pain worse like doing too much. However, chronic health conditions including pain can often attack when least expected. In your mind, it comes when it wants to and hurts you as it wants to.
 
In this case, you may find you’ve developed a victim mentality.

Here are a couple of other ways to think of victim mentality:

Victim mentality is an acquired personality trait in which a person believes that chronic pain is a force in itself as an abuser and we’re the victim of the negative actions of pain, and we behave as if this were the case in the face of clear evidence such as evidence of medical upheaval on our bodies.

The habitual or characteristic mental attitude that you’re being harmed, injured, tricked or duped by a medical condition constantly attacking you.
The mental attitude that you are helpless in the face of misfortune or ill-treatment.

These then determine how you will interpret and respond to situations especially when it concerns your well-being.
 
We can feel helpless and see ourselves as being chained to our circumstances. We may also see chronic pain itself as the abuser tearing apart our body.
 
We can begin to feel out of control of our health in a similar way as a victim of abuse may feel out of control of their life.

So how do we break free from a victim mentality of our health conditions? The article, “Victim or Victor?”, on healthcentral.com shows us we must take back the control we've allowed our health to take over.
   
As we have seen, just because you have pain doesn’t mean you have to be a victim of it. Take control of your attitude, actions, healthcare and ultimately your life.
 
And remember, God delights in you and in your efforts. He will bring you the victory that you are working toward, so don’t give up. The end result of your efforts will be that you are no longer a victim and you’ve become the victor.

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