Planty Family

Planty Family

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Why I Choose Not to Swear (or at least TRY not to)

This requires some backstory.

Almost 10 years ago, I was in labor with my first child. I'd already been in the hospital overnight and had been given Pitocin first thing in the morning to help kick start my labor. My contractions were powerful (that's kind of the point of Pitocin) and I was exhausted. They offered me some intravenous painkiller to help with the pain. I accepted because labor. The drug DID dull the pain somewhat, but it also dulled my brain. I discovered that I had actually been controlling the pain fairly well with some helpful visualizations and breathing. When my brain was dulled by the painkillers, I was not able to focus on my visualizations which actually made the experience worse. Ever since, I have thought a lot about the dangers of dulling ourselves in the hope of escaping pain.

Fast forward a few years to a Mythbusters episode. It was about the ability of swearing to help people increase their pain threshold. According to the Discovery Channel website "Pained participants' time trials showed that spewing expletives indeed increases suffering stamina by an average of 30 percent." Sounds positive, right? Swear and reduce your pain. But because of my previous experience, what I thought was, "Swear and dull your pain." 

So, what are some other things sometimes associated with dulling pain? Alcohol, drugs, food (guilty), TV, social media/electronic devices, porn/sex--all things that become addictions when used too often and for the purpose of dulling us to the world and our lives. 

My genetic legacy is that of addiction. There are elements of it in both my maternal and paternal bloodlines. I have to be careful to stay away from things that dull my pain or discomfort because those are the things that have the power to become addictions. I try my hardest not to swear because I don't want to be dulled. I want to live my life fully aware, awake, and alive and fight the inborn tendency to forego that in favor of avoiding pain. I want to feel things and I believe that swearing blunts my ability to do so. 

I don't think you're a bad person if you swear, but you'll understand if I choose to keep it G-rated. :)