Why start a blog?
Hello internet. My name is Amy, and I am now contributing to the mass of voices screaming into the online void.
Wait, no, that's a little dark. How about this: My name is Amy, and I am Changing My Ways. My ways thus far have been as follows: don't bother other people with your shit. This mantra is under threat now, as I am having to accept that 1) I may actually have something useful to say and share with others, and 2) doing this requires talking about myself. Oh god.
So here's a thing about me: I wrote a book. Titled "Taming Chronic Pain: A Management Guide for a More Enjoyable Life," this little project has become pretty important all of a sudden as someone actually decided to publish it. And all of my research, personal experience, work and conversations with others (in person and online) suddenly crystallized from just Stuff I Was Doing Anyway into Amy Orr, Chronic Pain Expert.
Is starting a blog right before having a book published a cynical ploy to increase visibility and therefore sales? Sure, probably. But I'm gonna work really hard to disprove that by posting actually useful, interesting content, news, information and random stuff, all in an effort to facilitate better, more honest, funnier conversations about chronic pain, life, and everything in between.
Here's a weird thing I have found about chronic pain: no matter how well I know the stats, the fact that 1 in 4 people suffer from chronic pain, that most are struggling through everyday life, that I am so obviously, ostensibly not alone in this, I still feel alone. I know there are loads of people just like me - I even have some in my life and talk to them openly about everything - but still, on a day to day basis, struggling in the supermarket, getting run down, aching for no reason, this is when it feels like I am the only one who has to deal with it.
Because I am. No amount of support or love or understanding from others, no amount of 'me too!' from the masses can change the fact that you are the only person living in your body. Others can know your pain, others can empathize, but they can't do it for you. So living in chronic pain is an ongoing struggle, a battle fought every day in the trenches by literally millions of people doing it alone.
Wow, that's a depressing place to end up. I was aiming for inspirational togetherness. Oops.
I don't know what the solution to this is - I know that no one is ever going to be able to live in my body for me. All I can hope is that talking about it with others, venting, finding new ways to cope and make life easier, and doing all of this with others in the same boat, pooling our experiences and expertise and learning from each other - all of that can maybe, possibly, feasibly aggregate into better experiences for us and those who come after us.
So I hope some of you will find this blog helpful, or funny, or a place to find shit out. I hope some of you read my book and find practical, usable advice to apply to your own journey. And I hope that doing this doesn't accidentally prove that I know nothing and should have kept my mouth shut.
Amy a.k.a. Citizen Pain
Wait, no, that's a little dark. How about this: My name is Amy, and I am Changing My Ways. My ways thus far have been as follows: don't bother other people with your shit. This mantra is under threat now, as I am having to accept that 1) I may actually have something useful to say and share with others, and 2) doing this requires talking about myself. Oh god.
So here's a thing about me: I wrote a book. Titled "Taming Chronic Pain: A Management Guide for a More Enjoyable Life," this little project has become pretty important all of a sudden as someone actually decided to publish it. And all of my research, personal experience, work and conversations with others (in person and online) suddenly crystallized from just Stuff I Was Doing Anyway into Amy Orr, Chronic Pain Expert.
Is starting a blog right before having a book published a cynical ploy to increase visibility and therefore sales? Sure, probably. But I'm gonna work really hard to disprove that by posting actually useful, interesting content, news, information and random stuff, all in an effort to facilitate better, more honest, funnier conversations about chronic pain, life, and everything in between.
Here's a weird thing I have found about chronic pain: no matter how well I know the stats, the fact that 1 in 4 people suffer from chronic pain, that most are struggling through everyday life, that I am so obviously, ostensibly not alone in this, I still feel alone. I know there are loads of people just like me - I even have some in my life and talk to them openly about everything - but still, on a day to day basis, struggling in the supermarket, getting run down, aching for no reason, this is when it feels like I am the only one who has to deal with it.
Because I am. No amount of support or love or understanding from others, no amount of 'me too!' from the masses can change the fact that you are the only person living in your body. Others can know your pain, others can empathize, but they can't do it for you. So living in chronic pain is an ongoing struggle, a battle fought every day in the trenches by literally millions of people doing it alone.
Wow, that's a depressing place to end up. I was aiming for inspirational togetherness. Oops.
I don't know what the solution to this is - I know that no one is ever going to be able to live in my body for me. All I can hope is that talking about it with others, venting, finding new ways to cope and make life easier, and doing all of this with others in the same boat, pooling our experiences and expertise and learning from each other - all of that can maybe, possibly, feasibly aggregate into better experiences for us and those who come after us.
So I hope some of you will find this blog helpful, or funny, or a place to find shit out. I hope some of you read my book and find practical, usable advice to apply to your own journey. And I hope that doing this doesn't accidentally prove that I know nothing and should have kept my mouth shut.
Amy a.k.a. Citizen Pain
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