Under the Covers

I've been suffering from a "chronic" type pain that I wake up with every morning for as long as I can remember. I don't have it when I go to sleep at night, but sure enough each and every morning when I open my eyes it's there and it takes me a good hour to work through it and get relief. My pain is a headache that's accompanied by a stuffed up head.

First thing one would consider to fix my problem would be to look at my sleeping conditions, since evidently something is going on in my sleep that is causing me to wake up with this morning mess in my head. But I don't want to change the near freezing like temps in my room, nor am I ready to turn off the ceiling fan just so I can wake up free from the pain and congestion. It's like the saying, when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing, I'll change. Well, waking up may be painful, but those six to eight hours of sleep are more important to me than the hour clearing out my head. So I've forced Mary to adjust to sleeping in the polar conditions in the room. Which means she has to endure me snorting, sneezing and hacking for an hour every morning until my head clears and the headache subsides.

In order for my wife Mary to adjust to the Icelandic sleeping conditions, she's had to purchase a nice, heavy, cozy comforter for our bed, which she did a few years ago. And of course, like most women, she had to buy a beautiful set of pillows to adorn the comforter with so that it takes us an hour just to clear the bed so we can get in it to sleep. No wonder I sleep so soundly. Between the large dose of Melatonin and the work out I get just getting into bed, I'm exhausted when my head finally hits the pillow. But I don't complain (at least not every night), because even I find the weighty comforter pretty comforting and cozy, as it keeps our bodies perfectly warmed all night long.

But interestingly, it was discovered by my very own Mary that what's been causing my troubles is the very comforter that is bringing us comfort. It appears our cozy little friend is filled with goose feathers, and I evidently am allergic to the "down". Imagine that, the "down" has been bringing me down. I can't go into the details of how this little secret was discovered, but let's just say Mary's filled with her own little personal grief since feeling responsible for my personal pain and congestion, as she personally picked out and purchased the comforter. Now that the comforter is gone, I've been healed from the chronic morning misery.

How ironic to think that what brought me comfort in one aspect of my life brought me so much pain in another. The comforter wasn't really comforting me at all, but instead was actually the culprit of my pain.

Today, I'm finally free and it was as easy as changing the covers on my bed. So don't let the covers keep you covered any longer. If you're living a pain-filled life emotionally, physically or even spiritually, take a look at what you're using to comfort you. If that comforter is actually causing you more pain, then change the covers and watch how free you'll begin to feel.