Take Two Tablets Every Six Hours For Life Pain

The past few weeks I’ve been focused on a spotlight topic I’m featuring on my website –addiction and children. I’ve done a lot of research on this topic and wrote four books about it for kids. What have I learned? Aside from the colossal amount of information about addiction, people still continue to abuse substances and get addictions, to the drug of their choice, as they search for comfort and a way to feel better. Better from what? Anything uncomfortable.

No judgment here! I am the first one to turn to the nearest source of relief from the day to day grind. Relief from pain, discomfort and emotional turmoil.

You know, life.

A day in the life of the average person can be pretty stressful and even depressing sometimes. Even if we look at the glass half full, some days can still be quite challenging.

We try not to burden kids with this stuff though. If we told them our adult woes, they wouldn’t want to grow up! Why would they want to inherit the anxiety, grief and pressure of their elders? We’re not fooling them though, by not telling them-they know. They have their own degree of these emotions too. We are all humans-they are just littler ones. In fact, kids these days seem to be even more aware to the stress of everyday life. Technologically, Socially and Economically.

Besides, they can see stress on our faces. They can see it in our behavior and they can feel it when we are around them, feeling our pain. So no, we can’t hide it from them, they know adulthood brings more stress and pain in life, and eventually they too will need to go through it. They know this!

What we can do, is prepare them. Give them tools they can use to confront the difficulties of adult life. They can start now and practice using these tools to be more aware of their challenges. To deal and overcome them, so they can focus on more productive pursuits towards happiness within and around themselves.

How do we give them the tools necessary to confront pain?

Educate them. Even if that means educating ourselves first to gain knowledge of proper coping skills.

Inspire and Show them. Be great examples to these kids so they can witness how to cope with the un-pleasurable surprises life throws at us.

Empower them. Make sure to reinforce how proud we are of them when they overcome their own obstacles.

Finally, Remind them how all pain, in whatever form, is worth it. It’s worth going through the pain to get the feeling of pleasure that soon follows after. It’s worth confronting pain head on, in a mindful way, deep within ourselves, because we know we can.

For the most part, remind them and ourselves daily that quick fixes and pain relievers, that are so readily available for our use, may be the easiest release from our pain, but not necessarily the best way.

The best way is found…well, that’s up to each of us to find within ourselves.

Tracy Bryan is a self-published author for kids aged 2-11. She writes whimsical picture books about emotions, self-esteem, values and coping skills. Tracy also likes to tackle social issues and speak directly to her readers about important topics that affect everyone. Tracy lives in Central Florida with her family and two dogs Jack and Rusty! Please visit Tracy's website tracybryan.com or email her at tracy@tracybryan.com