The Lighter Side of: Distracting Pain

I have always found it astonishing how pain can distract your mind from everything else around you. It is difficult to follow an entire conversation, a lecture, a story, or even a tv show or movie, when your body is also complaining every second of the day. Pain becomes a nagging voice in your head - always reminding you not to do this or to make sure you do that, and can become so distracting that other people may even notice lack of attention.
When an entire system of your body is constantly malfunctioning - whirring, screaming, over-heated, and damaged - the entire 'engine' becomes compromised. The more systems that begin to falter and break down, the tougher it is to run those day-to-day activities.

I often refer to myself as a 'lemon'. It first came from my dad in a super humorous way, as we usually handle difficult situations with humour (however morbid). I really like that comparison.
On the outside it looks like everything is running perfectly fine, but on the inside things do not run smoothly, there are even massive parts that are missing! Some days my body works okay, complaining and heating up where it shouldn't but still able to get from A-B. Then there are days I need a tow truck (my wheelchair). I may begin the day running decently well and then break down in the middle of a task. Not because of a flat tire or anything visible, but because of some belt or screw that is just off kilter.

Pain and illness can cause this ripple effect within the body. Once it starts in one section, it tends to move onto the next. It keeps going because no one knows exactly what the trouble is or how to really fix it.

The Lighter Side of distracting pain is that it also distracts us from trivial concerns - like slight changes in weight or physical appearance, of a friendship that has not been working out, of worrying too much about what others think of you. This level of pain and illness forces us to focus on what is important to us. It creates this need to prioritize what really matters - what activities are worth the whirring and screeching - and what moments or thoughts are just not important. We take stock of our lives and what we are truly wanting to accomplish. It creates clarity... even if it is in an unfortunate manner.
Distracting pain distracts us from menial concerns as well as everything else.
It's not all bad.