After years of ignoring it, I finally started physiotherapy for my back

Dear Delyara, I work in a warehouse, and for years I kept telling myself the pain in my lower back was just part of life. I’m 42, I lift heavy things, I stand too long, I come home tired. That was the story I used. What I didn’t admit was how much pain had already started shaping my personality. I was more irritable, less patient with my children, and always secretly counting how long I had left before I could lie down. Three months ago, my daughter asked me to play on the floor with her and I told her no because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back up comfortably. The look on her face stayed with me. That evening I booked the physiotherapy appointment I had been postponing for almost two years. I’m not cured, but I’m better. I’m moving differently. I’m learning how to take my own body seriously before it humiliates me into listening. Last night I sat on the floor and built a Lego tower with my daughter. To someone else that might sound small. To me it felt like getting part of my fatherhood back.