Many of us who are at this forum have lots of baggage from our past (or our parent's past, as we live in a broken world and are born to broken people), and as I first started exploring TMS, I was discouraged about discovering all the crap of childhood that, in a way, led to chronic pain. Feeling like a victim was a horrible trap, as it made me feel powerless and took away my agency to face my challenges. A victim tends to interprets his/her life in a negative light, in a self-sabotaging manner. We all have a version of our own life story, interpreted through a certain lens, and it is one that we repeat to ourselves unconsciously over and over. To break this harmful cycle of seeing myself as a victim, I have found it helpful to reinterpret my life through a new lens. I wrote down this new and better version of my life events (still factual, but focusing on a redemptive storyline), it is the only version I repeat to myself, and I found that very therapeutic. Try writing the story of your life with you as the protagonist/heroine, focusing on what you were able to learn, to overcome, and how pain has helped to enrich your life, understand yourself, help others etc. The facts of my life have not changed, but my interpretation of life's events has changed, and now I feel grateful to be who I am today, to be alive and living in hope. This outlook will empower you and and lead you toward healing. Hugs, and good luck!
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Alan has completed the new Pain Recovery Program. To read or share it, use this updated link: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/Dismiss Notice
