When you live with chronic pain (like I do from endometriosis) it can start to feel like your body is against you. For years, I believed that. The pain felt random, overwhelming, and honestly, unfair. I thought I was broken.

But learning about the neuroscience of pain completely changed how I see what’s happening in my body. It didn’t make the pain go away, but it gave me something I hadn’t felt in a long time: understanding, and a sense of control.

Pain Is a Brain Thing

Here’s something wild that I didn’t know until recently:
Pain doesn’t actually start in the body. It starts in the brain.

Let me explain.

Yes, you can have real tissue damage or inflammation (which I do), but pain isn’t just about what’s happening physically. It’s about how your brain interprets that information. Your nervous system sends signals to your brain, and your brain decides what’s dangerous, what needs attention, and how strong the pain response should be.

So technically, pain isn’t just in the place you feel it, it’s a full-body, full-mind experience. That’s why it can be so exhausting. That’s also why emotions like fear, stress, or anxiety can actually intensify the pain.

And once I understood that… things started to shift.

Learning to Work With My Brain—Not Against It

When you’ve been in pain for a long time, your brain starts to stay in “alert mode” 24/7. It becomes hypersensitive, like an alarm system that’s too quick to go off. That means even small triggers (like bloating, stress, or a bad night’s sleep) can feel huge.

But the brain is plastic. That means it can change. It can rewire.

The more I learned about how the brain processes pain, the more tools I found to calm my nervous system and manage how I respond. I started to understand why things like meditation, breathwork, journaling, and even light movement can actually help reduce pain over time. Not because it’s “all in my head,” but because my brain plays a huge role in how my body experiences pain.

That changed everything for me.

Why This Matters for Girls Like Me

No one explained this to me when I was first trying to understand what was wrong with my body. I thought I was just stuck with it. That I had to either tough it out or disappear into bed.

But neuroscience gave me options. It helped me realize I can influence how I feel, not by pretending the pain isn’t real, but by supporting my brain and nervous system in smarter, more compassionate ways.

Here are a few things that help me:

• Mindfulness and breathwork – slowing down my thoughts helps calm my nervous system

• Cold exposure (like cold showers) – a weird one, but it really helps reset my stress response

• Journaling – naming what I’m feeling takes away some of its power

• Movement – even walking or light lifting when I’m up for it helps send better signals to my brain

• Sleep and nutrition – both affect brain chemistry and inflammation, which affects pain

What I’m Still Learning

I’m not a neuroscientist (yet 😉), but learning how pain actually works in the brain has helped me feel less afraid of it. I still have bad days. I still hurt. But now I have a map, and that makes the pain feel less like a trap and more like a challenge I can learn to meet.

If you live with chronic pain, know this: You’re not imagining it. You’re not dramatic. And you’re not broken. But you dohave more power than you think, especially once you learn how your brain works.

Understanding pain is the first step toward changing your relationship with it. And that’s the kind of healing that starts from the inside out.

— Rowan 🧠💛