Sample Solution

Personally, I have experienced this notion that pain can exist without negatively impacting one’s well-being. At the age of thirteen, I had extensive spinal surgery. I was sentenced to recovery for six months, a long six months of pain and a life that looked a little different than the one I lived before. At fifteen and seventeen, I subsequently underwent two more, leaving me hurting and in pain for weeks once again. The pain and lifestyle changes passed, however, and looking back, I don’t consider that my pain caused me to suffer or contributed to a downgrade in my overall well-being. During my recovery, I did not feel in peak condition, but my prosperity stayed the same. Even now, I have the same quality of life as I did before my surgeries. Sure, I still experience residual and chronic pain every day, but I can still walk, exercise, study, spend time with my friends, and go about my days the same as I did before. I am the same me, and my well-being has stayed stable, if not increased due to the lessons and experiences that came out of my operations. The only things that differentiates me from my peers is my experience and the twelve-inch scar that runs down my back.

One might oppose this, however, by asking where do we draw the line in terms of pain negatively impacting one’s well-being? A perfect example of this is athletes and sports injuries. Say an athlete of any sport, any level, blows out their knee. They undergo surgery but the damage is too extensive and the doctor informs them that they can no longer actively participate in their sport due to the nature of the injury. While upsetting to any athlete, there are two ways this can go. On one hand, it could be a high school athlete who does not have the desire to continue their athletics at the collegiate or professio