Pelvic Pain and Emotions

Have you ever heard the expression, “she walked in like she owned the place”? Descriptions like this are referring the way someone carries themselves. Either with confidence or on the flip side, timid and shy. Either way, you can see the difference in mere seconds of being around someone. The way you carry your happiness and your stress affects every part of you and how you show up. 

Every situation and emotion we experience is carried in a specific place or way in the body. For example, tension is usually carried in our neck and shoulders, and that leads to tension headaches. Stress, carried in our gut,  leads to ulcers. Both of these are fairly well known. But did you know that the way you carry the stress of your obligations or your to-do list, can cause pelvic pain? 

As busy women, we all have to-do lists and they never quite seem to be complete. That is a stressor all in itself, but not the one that I want to explore today. March is Women's History Month and Endometriosis Awareness Month. So let's talk about women's health a bit. If you have ever experienced pelvic pain of any kind, whether that is pain with ovulation and/or your period, endometriosis, or pelvic inflammatory disease, you know there’s rarely a solid answer as to why that pain exists or what to do about it, besides taking medications that only mask the symptom. We're about root causes around here at Purely You Healing. 

But what if, that pain was a manifestation of tension or stress, like a tension headache or a stomach ulcer? Women, by nature, are nurturers. We are innately guided to care for others. That might not be a solely maternal instinct, it can also be caring for plants, pets, the planet, a company, etc. That is all well and good until we create an imbalance in what we’re caring for and caring for ourselves. 

Think about the giving and taking of your energy, like a balance scale. Just like merchants would use a scale to measure one for one when selling their goods, we want to measure the give and take one for one in your life as well. When you give more than you receive, the scale becomes unbalanced. When you receive, more than you give, same thing. You’re looking to create a balance between the two. I don’t fully believe that “balance” is attainable, but I do know that living for too long off-balance causes discomfort, specifically pelvic pain. 

Your "giving" energy comes from the right side. Your "receiving" energy from the left. So, if you're giving more than you receive, you might feel pain and tension in the right side as it is stressing to keep up with demand. Like sore muscles after a long day on your feet. Just like a tension headache, this is your body’s way of notifying you that you’re pushing too hard. This can happen even when you chose the obligations that are weighing you down but are more likely to happen when you’ve taken on too many tasks that don’t bring you joy. 

Pain and tension in the left side of your body are more likely to occur when you’re not receiving enough good energy back into your life. This may look like a lack of self-care, feeling unappreciated, unwanted, unsuccessful, or not loveable. Often your left side will try to remind you to care for it, by creating pain and discomfort. Like those hunger pains we get when we’ve skipped lunch. Discomfort that reminds you to take care of yourself. 

This is all fluid. You might be really good at managing your obligations this month, but still not participating in any self-care, so you end up with left-sided pain. And next month, you still don’t participate in self-care and you also get tasked with 3 more duties at work. This can cause pain on both sides. Maybe the following month, you finally commit to reading for 10 minutes a day but your obligations are still weighing you down, then you’re likely going to find only right-sided pain. 

It’s an interesting concept, isn’t it? When I struggled with severe endometriosis pain, this was one of the first lessons I learned. If I was taking on too much, my right-sided pain would escalate. If I was not doing the things that filled my heart with joy, my left side would wake me up at night. I’ve been working towards maintaining balance for almost 10 years now, and I can tell you it still rings true for me. While I have made many other changes in my life to manage my endometriosis, this lesson is one that made a huge difference for me.  At one point, pelvic pain was something I was frustrated by and absolutely despised, but now, I welcome the nudges from my body. Thank it for the gentle reminder, and course correct. I highly encourage you to do the same. If you want some more in-depth guidance to help you accomplish this, I have the perfect solution for you. Let’s hop on a call to talk all about it!