I (40F, USA) have recently heard a lot about how Americans are big babies about pain, and that as a culture we feel entitled to a life without pain or discomfort. So now I have a few questions about how other cultures handle pain!
- What techniques do you use to keep a positive and cheerful demeanor when in pain? Obviously nobody likes to hear someone else's complaints, so it's important to keep it to ourselves. But your face or the tone of your voice can still do the complaining for you even if you're using happy words. What are your favorite tricks for keeping up appearances?
- How do you prevent your body sensations from distracting you from performing tasks? The "noise" of body sensations, particularly pain, makes thinking and remembering much more difficult. For example, you're cooking dinner and need to get the carrots out of the fridge, but you turn toward the fridge and forget what you're doing. I would chant the thing aloud: "chop-the-carrots-chop-the-carrots-chop-the-carrots-chop-the-carrots…" until I'm standing ready in front of the chopping board, carrots, and knife. Is that what you do, too?
- When your pain prevents you from getting a good night's rest, how do you keep up your cognitive performance? What techniques prevent you from becoming forgetful, losing the thread of a conversation, misreading difficult text, and generally taking too long to do things that require you to think hard?
- Is "sorry I'm in pain because of a thing" ever a valid reason for not being your best self? Here, using pain as an excuse is often considered attention-seeking behavior. The people you say that to might outwardly express sympathy or pity, but privately they would look down on you for making excuses and they would think of you as less competent, and it's likely they'd even think you're faking it. Is that normal in your culture, too?
- "The world/your responsibilities won't stop just because you're in pain" (said with scorn) — Is that a normal sentiment where you are, too?