It is indeed possible to become so familiar with pain that you begin to wear it like a second skin—so accustomed to its presence that you forget what it feels like to live without it. Pain, especially when prolonged or repeated, has a way of dulling the senses, distorting perception, and creating a false identity. You begin to believe that the ache is a permanent part of who you are, that brokenness is your baseline, and that joy, peace, and wholeness are luxuries reserved for others. This is one of the deepest tragedies of unhealed wounds—not just the pain itself, but the gradual loss of hope that healing is even possible. Please don’t settle there. Don’t let pain convince you that it is your final condition. Fight, even if weakly at first, to remember what wholeness feels like—or at least to believe that it’s still within reach. Begin by reclaiming the consciousness of a healed mind, of a heart at peace, of a soul that breathes freely. You may not feel it immediately, but the fight for that awareness is already a step toward freedom. It reminds your soul that pain is not your identity, it’s only an experience, and experiences can change. Never accept pain as a norm. It may have lingered, but it does not define you. And if you’ve already unconsciously made peace with it, it’s time to break that agreement. Cultivate a strong, burning desire for freedom—a desire that refuses to be numbed by resignation. That desire, however fragile at first, will become your compass. It will lead you to truth, to healing words, to helpful people, to divine encounters. And as you follow it, healing will unfold, not always all at once, but in layers, in waves, in deep and lasting restoration. You were never designed to live in chains. There is more—so much more—for you beyond the pain. Bidemi Emmanuel