What If Your Beliefs About Pain Are Keeping You Stuck?

How Challenging Deeply Held Beliefs Can Change Your Experience of Pain

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

The Invisible Cage: When Pain Feels Like a Life Sentence

You wake up, and before you even open your eyes, it’s there. The pain. The weight of it presses against you before your feet even touch the floor.

You already know how the day will unfold—navigating around certain movements, planning your life around your limitations, bracing yourself for discomfort that never really goes away.

You’ve tried everything: the specialists, the exercises, the endless lifestyle changes. Nothing has truly worked. And so, a belief starts to solidify:

👉 “This is just my life now.”

👉 “Nothing will ever change.”

But what if that belief—more than the pain itself—was the thing keeping you stuck?

The Power of Belief: How It Shapes Your Experience of Pain

Beliefs aren’t just fleeting thoughts that pass through our minds; they are the deeply embedded stories we carry about ourselves, our bodies, and the world. They don’t simply exist in the abstract—they shape our reality in profound and tangible ways.

Imagine standing at the edge of a swimming pool as a child. If someone once told you, “You’re not a strong swimmer,”and you had a moment of panic in the water, that experience might settle into your mind as truth—even if you were never actually in danger. Years later, you might still hesitate before stepping into deep water, feeling an instinctive fear that seems beyond your control.

Now apply this same concept to chronic pain.

If you’ve been told, “Your spine is degenerating,” or “Your pain is something you’ll have to live with forever,” these words don’t just remain as passing thoughts. They become a script that plays in the background of your mind, shaping how you move, how you react to sensations, and how much hope you allow yourself to feel.

These beliefs don’t just stay in your head—they become your body’s reality.

👉 If you believe your body is fragile, you may avoid certain movements, reinforcing fear and tension.

👉 If you believe pain equals damage, every flare-up feels catastrophic, triggering anxiety and stress.

👉 If you believe nothing will ever change, your nervous system stays locked in a cycle of hyper-vigilance, keeping pain circuits active.

And the most frustrating part? These beliefs often don’t feel like beliefs at all. They feel like facts.

But what if they weren’t?

What if the things you’ve accepted as “truth” about your body and your pain were actually stories—stories that could be rewritten?

The Problem: When Beliefs Keep You Stuck in Pain

Many people with chronic pain have, at some point, internalised beliefs like:

❌ “I will always be in pain.”

❌ “I have a ‘bad back’ (or knee, or neck).”

❌ “Certain movements will make my pain worse.”

❌ “No one ever fully recovers from pain like this.”

And it’s understandable. You’ve likely been told these things by doctors, well-meaning friends, or even your own past experiences.

But here’s the truth: Beliefs are not facts.

They feel real because your brain has gathered “evidence” over time—just like a table with multiple legs holding it up. But just because a table is sturdy doesn’t mean it can’t be taken apart.

The Solution: Dismantling the Table of Limiting Beliefs

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

Imagine your belief about pain as a table. The tabletop is the belief itself (e.g., “I am broken”), and the legs underneath it are the experiences and assumptions that seem to prove it.

To weaken a limiting belief, you don’t have to attack it directly—you just need to question the legs that hold it up.

1️⃣ Identify the Belief

What thought do you catch yourself repeating? What story have you been told about your pain?

2️⃣ List the ‘Evidence’ Holding It Up

What moments in your life seem to reinforce this belief? Maybe a doctor once told you your spine was “like that of an 80-year-old.” Maybe you had a flare-up after exercising and now avoid movement altogether.

3️⃣ Challenge the Evidence

Is this “proof” actually the full picture? Can you find counterexamples?

• If your spine was truly like an 80-year-old’s, why are some days better than others?

• If exercise was always bad, why do so many people improve with movement?

4️⃣ Replace the Belief with a New One

Choose a belief that is realistic yet empowering—not forced positivity, but a genuine shift.

👉 Instead of “I will never get better,” try:

✅ “My body is capable of change.”

✅ “Not all pain means damage.”

✅ “I can start trusting movement again.”

5️⃣ Gather New Evidence

Your brain will still look for proof, so give it some!

✔ Recall moments when your pain wasn’t as intense.

✔ Notice when movement felt okay.

✔ Find examples of people who recovered from similar conditions.

Each time you do this, you weaken the old belief and strengthen the new one.

What Happens When You Change the Story?

When you start questioning old beliefs and replacing them with new ones, something powerful happens.

✨ Movement becomes less scary.

✨ Pain doesn’t feel like a punishment.

✨ You stop avoiding life.

✨ You become open to possibilities you once dismissed.

Healing isn’t about being pain-free overnight. It’s about changing your relationship with pain so that it no longer controls your life.

Imagine feeling hopeful again. Imagine trusting your body instead of fearing it. Imagine waking up one morning and realising… the pain isn’t the first thing on your mind anymore.

That’s the power of belief.

What’s One Belief About Your Pain You’re Ready to Question?

You don’t have to change everything at once. Just start with one belief. Identify it, question it, and find small ways to rewrite it.

Your brain is listening. Your body is ready. The first step is yours to take.

👇 Share your thoughts—what belief about pain do you want to let go of?

If you’d like support on your journey, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out, and we can have a friendly chat to see if my personalised approach is the right fit for you.