There is a relationship between time, money, and pain. In fact, there are many different relationships.
Have you ever noticed that at the moment you cut yourself, there is almost no pain? But shortly and quickly the pain starts and builds. And then it really hurts. The more time passes, the more pain there is. Then, over time, the pain diminishes. Depending on how serious the cut, the pain eventually goes away.
This is true for most pain. Over time, pain morphs from an acute pain to a chronic pain. If you’re lucky, the pain goes away, or at least diminishes.
The mistake we often make is thinking that once the pain is gone or less noticeable, the problem is gone. A cut leaves a scar. Sometimes scars hurt, often they don’t look good. The problem is still there.
A second relationship between time and pain occurs when some time after the pain of a chronic event passes, a new pain begins slowly to become evident. One day you twist your knee and you can’t walk. In a short time, you can walk with no limp and no pain. And then months or years later, you find that knee is affected by the weather, and then it seems puffy, and then it hurts, and then you have trouble all the time walking without pain.
How does money enter into this relationship? You can deal with pain in two ways, with time or with money. With time, the pain increases; slowly, perhaps, but it doesn’t stay the same. And it doesn’t get better.
Or you spend money on medication, braces and wraps, or surgery. But often, surgery doesn’t work or last. And stem cell therapy is expensive and not covered well by insurance. So it’s an out-of-pocket cost.
But the cost of pain is not simply a choice of spending money or not. It’s a choice between spending money to eliminate the pain or not spending money and paying for the pain with the time in your life that you will remain in that pain.
And ultimately, that is your choice. Will you pay for your pain with time or money?
Consider this when you make the choice between time and money. Time once spent is gone forever. Money once spent can be replaced. Money is a renewable resource, time is not.
What you spend for your pain is your choice. And yours alone.