10 daily steps to chronic pain recovery

There’s a lot to digest in my full-length Recovery Journey Roadmap, so I thought it would be a good idea to outline what I did on a daily basis, in a short-and-sweet format to get straight to the point of what worked for me. Your personal situation may well be different from mine, your symptoms may not be the same as mine, but typically the work is the same, regardless of how mind-body conditions are showing up for you. With that in mind, use these as ideas or invitations of what the daily work could look like for you, and adapt it to whatever fits your situation and lifestyle.

Start small if you need to

Patiently putting together these steps helped me create a mindful ritual out of the healing work I did to recover from chronic pain, which I built upon as time went along and my capacity stretched. I started small by just reading about the mind-body connection. A month or so later I added in a little gentle yoga. Later I started journaling and then meditating. Adding to my daily practices that became non-negotiables after a while I recognised how important consistency is.

I've added links in each relevant point if there's further information in here for you to read more. Again these are just suggestions, and what I did. This is in no way a list of things you have to do, everyone is different.

1. Take a few minutes to lie still and check-in with your body when you wake up, before you reach for your phone or other distractions. Give yourself a little time to breathe and greet yourself kindly no matter what is showing up.
2. Get out of bed when fully awake. This prevents you from ruminating or getting anxious about your day and gets you moving straight away. Make a cup of your favourite beverage, grab your journal or computer. Find a quiet space where you can let your guard down and be undisturbed. 
3. Read my list of daily reminders and affirmations and repeat it out loud to yourself twice over. (I have a guided audio version of this in my online course or my mind-body meditation bundle.)
4. Practice JournalSpeak - Grab a notepad or computer and start journalling - pick a topic from your lists of stressors (some topic examples here, and some journal prompts here for you), or just think about whatever is occupying most space in your mind today, and start writing. Try to feel your feelings within your body, not just write the stories on paper. Allow yourself to stop writing for a moment and really allow the feelings to develop inside. Check out my Emotional Embodiment Masterclass series for more help with this.
5. Soothe yourself with a guided meditation. Grab your headphones, turn off your phone notifications and melt into healing your overactive nervous system, again I have a bunch of these in my online course.
6. Get yourself moving, go to work, do some stretching, yoga, go for a walk, or do some house chores, anything to get your body moving safely and gently. If you're a lot of pain today, allow yourself to rest. The nervous system is looking for safety, not forced movement, so go easy on yourself whatever you're doing.
7. Catch up on some relevant learning that will help you along your journey (book, podcast, documentary, IGTV etc). You could consider this optional when you've done lots of learning already, but it really helped me keep going. You could listen to Nicole Sachs' The Cure for Chronic Pain podcast, or watch Dan Buglio's video of the day, catch up on any days you've missed if you have time, they're always short and jammed with awesome advice. There are various other podcasts you could tune into, Tell me About Your Pain and Hope for Healing video series both by Curable is great, so is the Crushing Doubt podcast.
8. Notice micro-moments of joy in your day (we call them glimmers), and really savour the feeling it gives you, no matter how simple or seemingly insignificant. (Flowers, sunshine, coffee, playing with pets, children, cook something delicious, watch your favourite childhood show, listen to uplifting music…). 
9. Commit to your mindset - try to befriend your symptoms and your fears about your symptoms as soon as they creep in. Adjust your attitude and refuse to obsess over being frustrated. Accept the situation exactly as it is, lovingly, and carry on about your day as best you can. Some days will be easier than others, but no matter what you can meet yourself where you are and flood yourself and your experience with compassion, acceptance and understanding.
10. Be kind to yourself - try to notice any self-limiting beliefs creeping in or any obvious self-sabotaging and nip it in the bud, not being critical of your actions or progress. Only kindness is welcome in your recovery space! (Honestly, this all takes practice and repetition, but you will get there!)

Start small if you need to. What is doable today? Commit to it.

Use common sense here if you don’t have time in the mornings, you could set your alarm earlier to get up and work on yourself first before anything else starts, or consider setting time aside later on before bedtime. All you need is 30 mins or so, then the rest can be fit around your daily schedule. But if you need to, start small. 5 minutes consistently each day is way better than 2 hours once a week!

Try not to obsess over this work

Recovery can easily become a full-time job, so although being consistent with these practices was essential for me, I didn't let my recovery become my obsession. Put in the time you can, but release the frustration and expectation from this work. Your body knows how to heal itself, allow it space and time to do so without forcing anything to happen frustratingly.

Check out my full-length Recovery Journey Roadmap if you would like more details about exactly how I became pain-free! If you need extra help with this I have in-depth online courses on recovery too!

You can also watch a video interview about my recovery here. Follow me on Facebook or Instagram for more resources and updates on everything chronic recovery.