If the stock market goes down 10% in a day, does that mean there’s a problem? If your retirement account goes into the red and doesn’t earn any money for several months, is it broken? Having studied finance and economics in undergraduate, and doing an internship in banking (many of you just went “How in the world did this dude become a Chiropractor when he studied finance? Topic for another day), we learned that having a “down day” isn’t bad. In fact, sometimes, it’s a sign of a healthy correction within the broader market. What goes up must go down.

Think about your own retirement/investment account: How often does your investment advisor recommend you look at your retirement account? Every hour? Every day? Heak, even every weak? Of course not! There’s so much fluctuation that can happen day-to-day, week-to-week, that all it would really do is scare you. So you check in with them annually to get an update on what’s going on. Where they politely advise you, once again, not to invest all your income in “that one AI company that’s supposed to be the next Google.” What do they advise you to do? Be in it for the long haul. Ride the highs and lows, and hopefully decades later, you’ll have reaped the rewards of compounding interest (fancy finance speak for interest that accumulates more interest).

The way your body talks to you – chronic pain in this instance – is exactly like that. If you pay attention to it too frequently, all it’ll do is scare you. There’s a healthy tension to strike between listening to your body and not letting it scare you – similar to your retirement account: you want to see your account balances, but not every day. You’re in it for the long haul. If you look up the list of things that could influence the price of a company’s stock, it’s nearly endless. If you think about the things that could influence how your body feels, multiply that by 100x.

Knowing this, when I talk with people, instead of asking, “How are you feeling today?” I’ll ask, “What have your biggest wins been recently?” Why that wording? It forces you to shift your brain chemistry into a state of gratitude and thankfulness, which directly affects pain perception and mood. When seeing it from this vantage point, it becomes slightly easier to be in it for the long haul. Please hear me: I'm not belittling the pain you’re feeling. It’s 100% real, and if it’s impacting your ability to serve others, please seek support. Rather, I invite you to shift your thinking about how your body talks to you.

At times, my left elbow talks to me a lot. It started after I was doing a lot of pull-up-type movements and grip-strength work in preparation for a Spartan Race (Nothing like being covered in mud 3 minutes into a 3-hour event!). Some days it would talk more, some less, and I remember the days it would talk more, I’d feel incredibly discouraged. “I need to fix this movement,” or “what exercise am I missing?” or “what’s wrong with my body?” plagued my mind. And then a friend reminded me of the retirement/investment account analogy, and by God’s Grace, it stuck. I felt like I could finally release the heavy burden I’d been carrying of thinking I was “broken” and “needed to be fixed.”

And guess what? I pray that you can too. Day to day, your body will fluctuate just like your retirement account, but be in it for the long haul, know you are not broken, and watch how God can bring you from the pit to the palace.