I didn’t realize until recently, that pain is a core of my daily routine. I still find it interesting how I kept the word ‘chronic’ out of my description for so many years. The simple summation is that I no longer want to try to hide my pain. I no longer want to go without expressing what I’m experiencing. I no longer want to deal with this alone. My upbringing taught me that acknowledging pain is weakness. Expressing pain is showing weakness. Sharing pain is selfishly burdening others. Regardless of my logical disagreement with these statements, the learned response remains. This is a direct attack on those feelings. I don’t know if anyone will read this or if it will matter to anyone in any way. That’s okay. I’m comfortable with my purpose being selfish in this instance.