"Monsters" - Mree

Saw Mree open up for Gabrielle Aplin in May.  Her music is absolutely lovely.

On chronic suffering...

Suffering is difficult.  Chronic suffering is an exceptionally exquisite type of suffering because it never really leaves.  Its severity at a particular time may be variable, but it's, by definition, never going to be out of your life; in other words, your life will never be the same.

That itself is part of the difficulty with chronic suffering.  When one first undergoes it, it's hard to accept the fact that life can never be the same as it was "before my .... ".  One of the beautiful things about accepting chronic suffering (not to be confused with despondency, which may occur from time to time), is being able to remember the "before"-times with a smile and, upon reflection, acknowledge the meaningful impact of the event on the richness of your life. 

The trick to chronic suffering is not to encumber your mind with the fact that it will never leave as this is a great impediment to the quality of your future with it.  When it comes, as it will, and at usually very inconvenient times, a part of the way to deal with it is being honest with the way you will face it at the time, and another part of dealing with it calls for the courage to do the best you know how to to face it -- all of this layered on top of the realization that my life in some respects will never be up to the standards it was once before becoming afflicted with chronic suffering.  There's an acknowledgement that this episode will come to pass and as a long as there is an honest effort, your best effort, given at the time of any episode then what more could you possibly do? 

Sometimes you will be disappointed with your best effort and give into the temptation to say "if only I didn't have... then it would be perfect", but this again is why chronic suffering is exceptionally insidious.  Call to mind again that any attempt to wish for your life without your chronic suffering beyond reflection after having accepted it only diminishes your chances of effectively living with it. 

A sign of living effectively with chronic suffering is being able to testify to the following statement: I will do the best I can to face it when it comes, live my life the best I can accordingly, and be gentle with myself because what more could I possibly do?