A New Perspective

You have probably been told that you need to take an active role in managing your chronic pain. For example, you need to learn about how chronic pain works, you need to try moving again and return to some form of schooling. This website can help you with all of these things, as well as support you in setting some goals for your health and happiness.

But what if you feel stuck and:

  • You don’t feel you have any energy left to channel towards positive change?
  • You don’t really believe it can get better?
  • Your family is great at supporting you? You’re maintaining status quo and are doing OK. Changing things up would push you outside your comfort zone.
  • You can’t think of a reason to try something new?

The will to manage your health can’t come from your parents or your friends. Your doctor can’t prescribe you a magic dose of motivation. It has to come from you.

If you are asking yourself, “Why bother?”, try making a list:

The Ready for Change List

To start your list, make two columns and label them Advantages and Disadvantages.

Write down all the advantages and disadvantages of making some changes.

Next, write down the advantages and disadvantages of NOT changing. Be really honest – this list is just for you.

Compare the two. What are the big advantages to changing and not changing? What are the disadvantages? What is more important to you?

It can be interesting to see if what you’re doing is in line with what is important to you. If you like what you see, then maybe your current situation is working. If you don’t like it, you can choose to change it.

Making a list can be helpful any time you’re faced with a decision in your healthcare, like whether to attend a pain management course or follow the recommendations made by your healthcare team. If you can see clearly what the benefits and drawbacks are, you may be able to find the motivation for the things that could really help.

What is your motivation for getting better?

Understanding what motivates you to get better will help you participate in pain management strategies because you’ll understand and want to work towards your ultimate goal.

Some teens want to see their friends more, some want to improve their family life, and some want to get back to playing sports and go back to school. Whatever your motivation is, you’ve got to get clear on it so that you have a reason for practicing your pain management strategies to get back to normal functioning.

If you have no motivation to get better, then maybe it’s a good time to re-evaluate school, family and friendships. Your healthcare team can support you in doing this.

Helpful Resources

MyCalmBeat

By: MyBrainSolutions

MyCalmBeat is a Brain Exercise that helps improve your ability to manage stress through slow breathing. Slow breathing allows you to increase the variability of your heart rate to decrease stress, improve focus and build resilience.

Take A Chill

By: Channel Capital, LLC

As a teen, there are moments in your life when you’re really stressed and just need to “Take a Chill.” This app is full of tools to help manage that stress, and bring mindful practices into a daily routine. Using quick mindful exercises and thoughtful activities, begin to overcome those moments whether it’s studying for a test or preventing negative thoughts and patterns.

e-Catch the Feeling

By: MyBrainSolutions

Reinforce your positive feelings on the go using e-Catch the Feeling, a Brain Training Exercise by www.mybrainsolutions.com.