Pain, friends, five things and simple joys.

We live in a society where we're used to comfort and convenience.
Most people pop some sort of pill anytime anything on our body hurts or feels uncomfortable; or we just complain about it.  The world we live in today makes it so easy to complain, we can tweet about it or tell the world on Facebook.
I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm not guilty, because I am.
We all go through trials and we all have choices. The pain and discomfort you experience may be totally different than that of the people in your life.

"But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world....No doubt pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. it removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul.”-- C.S. Lewis

I heard a friend quote that recently and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since.
Pain sucks. I could put it a little bit more delicately, but I'm not going to.
As it says above, pain places an opportunity in your lap. You get to make the choice in how you deal with it, it's not going to be easy. Sometimes you may have to figuratively pull yourself to your feet when you're flat on your face. This is where people come in, allow yourself to be fully loved by the people placed in your path. Sometimes those same people may have to help pull you to your feet and that's alright. You're going to be ok, especially when you know that you're not alone.

I'm going to end this with something I heard when I was in college and it's stuck with me.
At the end of every day, no matter how much it stunk. Write out five positive things that happened that day, even if they're super silly. (ex. I had a really awesome cup of coffee today.)
At the end of the day as you're typing those or writing them out, you'll smile.
The pain may still be there, but in those moments you'll remember some simple joys.
In the midst of pain and hard times let yourself have those joys, you deserve every last one of them.