For many, Finding Nemo is a beloved tale of a neurotic clownfish searching for his lost son. It's a...
**Today I bring you Part 2. If you missed Part 1, head on over to this blog post and catch up here:
2. Why We Get Distracted So Easily When Suffering With Chronic Pain
Let’s break down why distraction is not just normal — under chronic pain, it’s almost inevitable.
A. Persistent internal “noise”
Imagine sitting in a room with a humming air conditioner. Over time, your brain tunes it out. But if the hum constantly varies or spikes (pain flares), it draws attention back. Pain is like a dynamic interference that can’t be fully backgrounded. It’s always running. It’s always fighting for attention with the other things in your brain. It feels like my pain shouts at me all day long.
B. Heightened vigilance & threat detection
People with chronic pain often develop hypervigilance: being extra alert to bodily signals, changes, discomfort, or potential danger. That hypervigilance makes attention more “sticky” to pain cues or sensations.
That means your brain is primed to monitor for pain, making it harder to ignore or redirect attention. Hypervigilance is a really common issue for Pain Warriors. For me, I hurt so much already, so my brain is always on the look out for anything that could cause me extra pain. It means that I am way more aware of all my different pains, and it’s a hard issue to manage, because a certain part of it is beyond my control.
C. Negative thought loops & rumination
Chronic pain frequently comes with worry: “Will it get worse?” “What if it’s permanent?” “Why can’t I do more?” These repetitive thoughts (rumination) and catastrophizing serve as “internal distractors” in themselves. They pull attention inward and anchor it to pain-related content. Many Pain Warriors suffer from negative thought loops and rumination, because the very nature of chronic pain is all encompassing and impacts every corner and crevice of your life.
D. Fatigue, sleep disruption, mood disturbances
Pain often disrupts sleep, causes fatigue, and is comorbid with anxiety or depression. All of these reduce the efficiency of executive control and baseline attention, making it easier for smaller distractions to break focus. This is a very real issue for Pain Warriors like me. It is very hard to sleep when I hurt so much, and it’s hard to stay asleep when there is pain shooting throughout my back, neck and legs. Having a consistent bedtime routine helps more than you think, as it cues your body that it’s time for sleep.
I have written 2 different blog posts about sleep hygiene and bedtime routines, which can be found https://www.meredithhutton79.com/meredithhutton79/the-sweetest-relief-prioritizing-sleep-hygiene-when-living-with-chronic-pain, and https://www.meredithhutton79.com/meredithhutton79/sleep-when-pain-wont-quit-stimulus-control-wind-downs.
E. Task overload & switching cost
Even under ideal conditions, switching between tasks or juggling multiple goals has cognitive cost. With pain acting as an ever-present “third task,” your brain is constantly managing dual demands — whatever task you're doing + monitoring/disentangling pain. That makes switching or reorienting harder and more prone to lapses. For me it feels like I am always managing my chronic pain, and managing my mental health, on top of managing life and what to allocate my energy to. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming that I don’t know what to do and I become frozen.
F. Ironic process of suppression
If you try to suppress thoughts of pain (“don’t think about it”), you paradoxically make them more salient, per the “ironic process” theory. This is so very true. It’s why doing body-scans in meditation doesn't work for me, because it brings more focus to my pain. I need to notice it less, so finding alternative ways to meditate that don’t include sitting in a quiet room listening to the meditation, is important to me. My favourite way to meditate is to listen to meditations while I’m doing something creative. I use Apple Fitness+, Balance, and Calm to meditate.
In short: pain is a potent, intrusive internal distractor, bolstered by negative cognition, fatigue, mood, and brain resources already under strain.
3. How Distractibility Impacts Your Life, Productivity & Self-Esteem
Losing your train of thought, having to re-read a paragraph, forgetting appointments: these aren’t just inconveniences. It’s not just sometimes. It’s a daily struggle and over time, they pile up. These moments then impact our self esteem and our self-worth.
Cognitive & performance costs
- Tasks take longer. You lose momentum, have to restart or refocus. Things like filling out forms and sending emails, as well as business or household tasks, are all things that I struggle to focus on. My mind is constantly interrupting itself with the thoughts flying around my head, as well as distracted by what’s going on in my surroundings at home.
- Errors increase. Missed details, miscalculations, omissions. It is so easy to make a mistake or forget something all together when your mind is going from one distraction to the next. Sometimes I forget something, and it’s days before it pops into my head again. It’s frustrating and makes you feel stupid when these simple errors occur frequently.
- Memory suffers. Information fails to encode or is lost during internally triggered distractions. I have a really hard time with retention of all sorts. Because my brain is so busy, I’m not able to absorb most of what I’m reading or watching, or when taking part in conversations. My brain is always “multi-tasking” and that means I’m not really able to remember a lot of what I read, watch or write, and I often forget what people tell me. I don’t mean to, but man do I struggle with this. It’s definitely in my top 5 most frustrating things about having chronic pain.
- In complex tasks or those requiring sustained attention (work, study, projects), performance is more variable and fragile. I have a really hard time working for more than 20 minutes at a time. I never used to have a problem with long focus periods, but living with chronic pain means my brain gets distracted easily and also needs a rest after it's been used for a period of time.
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Emotional & motivational toll
- Frustration, guilt, self-blame: “Why can’t I focus like I used to?” Your self esteem really does take a massive hit when you struggle with always navigating one distraction after the other. My distractibility often leaves me frustrated and feeling badly about myself. We Pain Warriors are usually hard on ourselves, and have unrealistic expectations about what we should be able to do, and it’s a very real struggle for a lot of us suffering with chronic pain.
- Reduced self-esteem: internalizing distraction as laziness, incompetence, or personal weakness. In an output driven world it is hard because when you struggle to complete simple tasks because of distractions, and your to-do list is full of incomplete tasks, you put pressure on yourself and tell yourself you should be doing more, be more productive and use your time better. But your brain has other ideas.
- Loss of confidence in one’s abilities — “I used to do this easily; now I can’t.” This is a big one for me. When you lose certain capabilities, one after the other, you begin to doubt your worth and your abilities, because they are negatively impacted to a great degree. When you are faced with losing your abilities to do things you once enjoyed and whatever remains you struggle with, it’s no wonder we lose our confidence. Productivity looks different, organization is hard, and we have to reset our previous goals to be something that is attainable with what limits your body puts on you.
- Fear of failure or reluctance to attempt tasks. Over time, this leads to avoidance, further eroding skills, lost opportunities, and impacts our overall well-being. I have a huge fear of embarrassing myself, which means that I can be hesitant to try new things or do some things in front of people, even though they might be things that others don’t think twice about doing. I have a lot of anxiety about my capabilities, which are always changing and have become even more limiting as the years have passed, and I worry I won’t be seen as capable or competent.
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Social & quality-of-life effects
- In social interactions, things like drifting away, missing parts of conversations, failing to respond quickly, are all things many Pain Warriors struggle with in their daily lives. I battle with my brain to retain what’s being said, and when I lose track, my mind panics, and instead of listening to what else is being said, my mind is frantically trying to remember what’s been said and what is being talked about. Thankfully I am getting better at asking for things to be repeated, or to asking someone to remind me what I was saying. It’s a fact of my life, and I’ve been working hard on not being as embarrassed about it, and just asking for some help in continuing the conversation.
- In relationships, things like feeling “absent,” misunderstood, and impatient with oneself is another daily struggle. Chronic pain is an invisible disability, and there are so many complex components to it that cannot be “seen”, and it can often cause someone suffering with chronic pain to struggle with being present and feeling understood.
- In daily living, things like forgetting commitments, making mistakes, feeling “off,” and avoiding responsibilities is another huge challenge most Pain Warriors face. Our brains are so chaotic, that even if you are “organized” and “focused”, many things can still slip through the cracks. I worry about making mistakes or upsetting others when I forget something, do something wrong, or have to cancel, and often I don’t feel great, so I put things off I should be doing.
All these reinforce a vicious cycle because you feel worse about yourself, which may increase stress or rumination, making distraction more likely the next time.
...........To be continued - Look for Part 3 tomorrow!..........
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