{"id":492,"date":"2025-01-22T21:12:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T21:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swirlyeyedsister.com\/?p=492"},"modified":"2025-01-22T21:13:18","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T21:13:18","slug":"banish-those-insidious-if-onlys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/?p=492","title":{"rendered":"Banish those insidious if-onlys"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Banishing those insidious if onlys<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve all heard people say, \u201cIf only I could win the lottery,\u201d or \u201cIf only I had a fancy car,\u201d or \u201cIf only I were younger (or thinner or richer).\u201d This phenomenon\u2014which I call the \u201cif-onlys\u201d\u2014presents those of us who live with chronic pain an especially seductive temptation. We may find ourselves constantly yearning:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If only I didn\u2019t have chronic pain.<\/li>\n<li>If only researchers could find a cure.<\/li>\n<li>If only things could be the way they used to be.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Beware! These are not the harmless expressions of hope that they seem. Instead, the \u201cif onlys\u201d are insidious roadblocks that prevent us from living our lives to the fullest.<\/p>\n<p>That is not to say we need to\u2014or should\u2014give up hope. We can continue to keep our eye on that faraway star of a cure. But, in the meantime, if we are to thrive, we must accept our current condition, make those accommodations necessary to living as rich a life as possible, and cope the best we can with things the way they are.<\/p>\n<p>If we put our lives on hold while waiting for the if-onlys to come true, we squander the most precious gift we all possess\u2014time.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014Susan Dudley Gold<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Banishing those insidious if onlys You\u2019ve all heard people say, \u201cIf only I could win the lottery,\u201d or \u201cIf only I had a fancy car,\u201d or \u201cIf only I were younger (or thinner or richer).\u201d This phenomenon\u2014which I call the <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/?p=492\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Banish those insidious if-onlys<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-patient-advocacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swirly-eyedsister.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}