Hurt

I try to make some sort of self-care appointment every week. Usually some kind of bodywork, like acupuncture, or massage, or chiropractic -- and my latest discovery is zero balancing. I don't really understand it, but I know I feel more solidly in my body afterward, in a really good way. It is hard to explain what it is -- basically he moves my body around and pushes in certain places to get me into better alignment. Sometimes it really hurts -- not super painful -- but just hurts like it is working. Today it wasn't hurting, so I started worrying that it wasn't working, and I told the practitioner what I was feeling. I told him I sometimes feel the same way at acupuncture if there aren't a lot of needles that hurt going in. He said, get this: it doesn't have to hurt to work. Words to live by.

This song, originally written by Trent Reznor and performed by Nine Inch Nails but also famously and fabulously covered by the man in black, is all about the need to hurt. Ourselves. Others.

And it's a good one to listen to when you're feeling that way. But I'm also going to try to remember that it doesn't have to hurt to work. That pain is not the only thing that's real. Not by a long shot.