08/27/2026
One of the things I am learning during my own recovery is that sometimes waiting until you hurt enough to do something is already too late.
I was prescribed pain pills. I took them because I hate crying.
A few days later, I was given a muscle relaxant.
And what I discovered with the muscle relaxant was really interesting.
If I waited until I was hurting and then took it…
I didn’t sleep as well.
But if I took it every night, whether I thought I needed it or not, I would sleep through the night.
And I would wake up feeling better.
That was interesting.
Because I had been thinking about medication the same way a lot of us do.
“If I don’t hurt right now, I don’t need it.”
Except my body didn’t seem to agree with that logic.
By the time I was hurting enough to take something, the night was already getting away from me.
And once I was awake and uncomfortable, getting back to sleep was much harder.
So I stopped waiting for the pain to tell me I needed help.
I took the medication as prescribed, consistently, and paid attention to what happened.
And I slept.
That made a difference in everything else.
This is one of those things I think about a lot when I’m working with people who are dealing with ongoing pain.
Sometimes we’re so determined to be tough that we wait until things are bad before we respond.
But your body doesn’t necessarily need you to prove that you can tolerate more.
Sometimes it needs you to notice what helps before things get bad.
And if you have a prescription that your healthcare provider has told you to take regularly, it’s worth having the conversation about whether taking it consistently is part of the plan rather than waiting until you’re already hurting and using it to ease discomfort.
For me, sleep isn’t an extra bonus.
It is part of getting better.
