A Hundred Days of Headaches: From Hassle to Hustle?

It’s Monday afternoon and the sun is shining. It’s spring in Minnesota, which means as soon as the weather climbs above 60 degrees fahrenheit, everyone makes it a point to be in the sun as much as possible.

Though right now I’m not in the mood for outdoor activities.

I’ve been dealing with the same damn headache for over three months.

100 days, 11 chiropractor appointments, 8 acupuncture sessions,15+ different doctors, dozens of messages/calls with friends and family…

But the only number that matters: ZERO.

Because I still have ZERO idea of what the cause is.

It sucks to see your family worried about you when you’re not even worried about yourself.

Last time I checked, worrying causes headaches. It doesn’t prevent them.

When most people hear about my tension headache, they immediately assume mine is stress or anxiety related.

“Gosh, I know it sucks…Hang in there and try not to worry.” They’ll tell me.

“I never said it sucked, and I’m calmer than ever. But thanks.” I’ll respond in my head.

These people are the ones with stress and anxiety. I have headaches.

“Now wait a minute, if you’ve got such a bad headache, then how can you write this?”

Well, it took me over five hours of preventative exercises to earn back one hour of creativity. More on how I did that in a minute.

It seems like forever since I’ve written.

I’m a writer and I love writing, but for the last few months, I’ve held back from writing about my headaches for three main reasons.

1) I’m usually in far too much pain to think creatively

2) I don’t want people to feel bad for me. I’m fine. It’s a friggin’ headache. It’s not a brain tumor or cancer.

3) I get paid to write and I worry that if my boss sees me writing about my personal life, he’ll start to question why I haven’t been working.

But yesterday I went to a meditation retreat and spent nine hours in silence with fifteen strangers.

It was my first time doing a meditation retreat, and it was a great experience. Above all, I was blown away at the amount of intimacy I shared with these strangers without talking to them.

At the end of the retreat, we sat in a circle and everyone got the chance to share something with the group. Most people said thank you to everyone, a few people cried, and a few people passed.

I went last and I shared my story. And it felt good.

For those of you who know me, you know I love traveling.

Why? I love learning new languages, witnessing spectacular scenery, and creating epic experiences (like going on a Vietnamese reality TV show for one month). I love meeting new people, trying new foods, and I LOVE ADVENTURE.

So for me, dealing with my headaches has been just another adventure.

Sure, there have been ups and downs, but not all adventures are perfect. In fact, the best adventures are the ones that bring out your emotions you didn’t know existed.

Headaches have done just that.

And besides the amazing friends, friends of friends, and family members that have reached out and offered me a helping hand, there have been many benefits from these headaches.

Out of necessity, I’ve introduced a ton of healthy habits into my life that I never thought I’d be able to do.

They’ve kept me sane, and that’s why I’m able to type and focus right now.

For example, this morning, I woke up at 8:00 AM and I felt like shit.

It’s easy to go back to sleep when you feel like shit. But when you do that, your headache wins.

After brushing my teeth, I did thirty minutes of a breathing exercise (from Wim Hof, AKA the ICE MAN).

Next, I did ten minutes of yoga and stretching and took a quick cold shower.

I hurried into yoga at 8:45, but it wasn’t until thirty minutes into the class that my headache finally vanished.

At 10, the class finished and I headed to the steam room.

I felt okay, but not amazing (how I usually feel after yoga when I don’t have headaches).

After ten minutes in the steam room, I went to another yoga class from 10:15 to 11:30.

As soon as the class ended, my headache came back.

Persistent….

I know. :-)

I popped back into the steam room where I sat for fifteen more minutes. Then I took a 10-minute ice cold shower (yes, I timed it and I’ve been building up my tolerance for weeks).

Then I went home, ate lunch, but I STILL felt like crap.

So, with no other options, I ate and smoked marijuana.

(No, it’s not prescribed by a doctor, but it helps the pain far more than any other lucrative and addictive pain pill out there.)

Some people may get addicted to marijuana because they think it’s fun so they keep doing it. Not me.

Marijuana isn’t fun when you use it out of necessity.

Even after all of that, my headache STILL remained.

So, I played some guitar (for my YouTube channel), laid down for a bit, then did another round of breathing exercises.

After sending additional oxygen to my brain, I stood up and decided it’s time to write before the headache makes his return.

I’ve found myself a nice little routine. I never expected my routine to look like this, but whatever life throws at you, you learn to adapt.

My headaches have forced me to adapt. And the easier you adapt, the happier you will be.

I’ve had to travel halfway across the world. I’ve had to be patient. I’ve had to change my routine.

But I’m still grateful. No matter how bad my headaches get, I’ll always have room for gratitude.

After all, I’ve been able to experiment with many new practices and methods.

I’ve learned a ton and I’ve grown up a lot.

I’ve been connected with headache survivors from all over the world who have shared their story and given me advice. I’ve received more valuable advice from Facebook than I have from doctor’s offices.

Soon, I’ll be on the other side of the phone, giving advice to someone else that is dealing with pain or headaches. I’ll find a way to make this entire experience a positive for the world.

Until then, I’ll keep on living :-)