Pain, Buffers, and The Truth Your Body Tells

Pain, Buffers, and The Truth Your Body Tells

From The Real - Authenticity, Ambition & the Power of Being You by Sally Luehman

August 19, 2025 · 12 min · Season 1 · Episode 6

About this episode

In this episode, Sally Luehman discusses the various forms of pain and the importance of addressing it rather than buffering it with distractions.

Have you ever had PAIN that just wouldn’t go away? The kind that makes you reach for anything—meds, ice packs, distractions—just to get through the day? In this episode of The Real , I get vulnerable about my own experience with tooth pain, and how it became a deeper reflection on the ways we all live with pain—physical, emotional, and mental. Pain doesn’t always come as a sudden crisis. Sometimes it’s the quiet, daily discomfort we choose to push through. The stress we carry. The heartbreak we numb. The exhaustion we bury under busyness. We tell ourselves we’re fine, we show up for work and family, but underneath it all—we’re hurting. And often, instead of facing that pain, we buffer it. We pour another glass of wine. We overwork ourselves. We scroll for hours. We get wrapped up in other people’s problems. Those buffers numb the pain for a while, but they also prolong it. They keep us from real healing. And just like my friend who ignored his hip injury until it became permanent, the pain we avoid today can shape our lives tomorrow. So how do we know when to push through, and when to stop and deal with what’s hurting? In this episode, I share a simple three-part framework that…

Topics covered

  • pain
  • emotional health
  • mental health
  • self-care
  • healing

Keywords

  • buffers
  • tooth pain
  • stress
  • heartbreak
  • exhaustion

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Real

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