Simply, I would say pain. I have wanted to write about the role that chronic pain has played in my life for a long time now, and how it affects my actions day to day. At first I wanted to talk about why pain stops me from being able to do things, but in reality I am recovering and my life no longer functions that way. Key phrase there: functioning. My life in recovery is focused on functioning as if I had no symptoms telling me to do otherwise. In pain? Go to school anyway. Feeling nauseous? Exercise anyway. And one of the ways I can function despite having pain is not acknowledging it, as if it isn’t important. This is the reason why writing this essay has been a challenge for me, because I thought I would have to address the symptoms I experience in it. I actually tried to sit down and write the essay from that perspective, and the reasons for why I am told not to focus on pain became abundantly clear when I faced heightened pain for the rest of the day. Then I realized...