Invisible pain

A 12mm kidney stone, pictured here, began to exit my body while I was headed to a conference in San Antonio, TX. I planned to attend the event as scheduled since there was nothing I could do other than wait for it to pass, but upon seeing me event organizers and colleagues insisted I get to an urgent care center. My symptoms led doctors to conclude that I was either passing a sizable kidney stone or I was entering critical condition for other causes and was at risk of imminent death. I was promptly put in an ambulance and taken to a San Antonio hospital.

While I was waiting for imaging, I noticed that a woman on the ER bed to my left who had overdosed was being told by social workers that she was losing custody of her children. To my right, a man was handcuffed to his gurney and was being guarded by multiple (prominently armed) US Marshalls. Regardless of our circumstances, all three of us were very visibly experiencing extreme psychological distress and/or physical pain.

Signs of pain are not as obvious anywhere else as they are in an ER since we live in a society that prefers pain and stress be kept private. We cannot tackle all of life challenges by ourselves, and many of those who care about us at home and at work often don’t realize how much we may be hurting.

—> Take the weekend to think about how much the weight you are carrying on your shoulders is visible to those around you. Can you share a little more with those who love you at home and at work?

—> What will you do to remind yourself that you generally only see what's on the surface? How will you create a #team dynamic where colleagues can open up to each other a bit more?

Note: Mental health is a topic that doesn’t get enough attention. Please make sure you are taking advantage of all resources available to you, whether at work, at church, or community centers in your area.