There are 2 things that are causing me physical pain in recent days: a situation with my back that I thought was a knot but that I'm now self-diagnosing as a "herniated disc" or "bulging disc" where I'm fine standing up or laying down in bed, but when sitting in specific chairs, I feel a tingling on the right side of my spine, followed by faint pain; not excruiating and probably me just being a baby, but it's consistent discomfort that after while makes me get up and have to move around to get the knot out. I believe it's caused by the bad posture I've adopted over the years, as well as being sedentary all the time in a sitting position while working, watching TV, as opposed to back in the day having to commute to work, go from my car to the office, get up at the office to go pick up lunch at a restaurant, etc. I never had good posture when I was a child and my parents never emphasized it; not blaming them since they had plenty on their plate, and also into my teens I started developing acne and didn't want to look anyone in the face, thus always turning away and keeping my head down. And I'm just lazy and a sloucher. Definitely when I go back in my time machine to correct the mistakes of yesteryear, I'll make a reminder to stop slouching. It'll be like No. 63 way down the list, but it'll be mentioned. My body in general also is showing the tiniest bit of wear and tear aka getting old, as when I run I sometimes feel the slightest knee pain or heel pain, somehing I never felt in my 20's. Signs of mortality, and I can see why no athlete really lasts into their late 30s or even 40s except the unicorns like Tom Brady and Lebron James.
MJ has graciously helped to try to knead my back and massage out the knot, but either we haven't go deep enough into the tissue, or it's just not fixable by laypeople. My parents recommended a physical therapist, triggering fears I've always had of going to the dentist, going to the dermatologist, going any sort of doctor. I'd just rather not unless I absolutely had to, but then again there's been some unexpected successes: didn't really think I needed laser eye surgery, got it anyway in late 2009, haven't looked back (literally) since, it's been great and I enjoy not wearing glasses all the time. Maybe a physical therapist will make my back feel like I'm 18 years old again? Unlikely but might be worth a shot if the back gets worse, or if good posture and naturally sorting it out doesn't fix the problem.
The other thing causing me physical pain is the amount of tax I have to pay this tax season. Yes, it's physical pain, I'm not saying my back pain was created by the stress of doing those tax returns and finding out how much I have to pay Mr. Tax Man.... but it's definitely not helping. We're talking like 5-digit sums of money, not just to the Federal Uncle Sam but also to the state! I may have complained about this last year too (money is a particularly sensitive topic for me) but those tax brackets sure have a high cliff, going from 10%-12% immediately up to 22%-24% as you make more, and then ANOTHER big jump to 32%. It does make sense to tax people who have more income more percentage, but I think I have the same issue as with tipping going up from 15% back in my day to 20%, 22%, etc. I would have paid more than the lowest earners even if I paid the same rate, since I'm earning more, it's not like I make $100 and only get taxed $10 while those who make $50 also pay $10, that would be really unfair and regressive. Not to get into the math too much, but likely I will still try to make as much money as I can, but there's definitely a little bit of eyeing the tax brackets and saying, "let's just stay under the cap that bumps up the percentage from 12% to 22%, almost doubling. Let's just stay under there. There is a little bit of deterrence to not work as much there. Man 32% income bracket for some of the top brackets, AND THEN the states get to take a hack at it? Tough to make a living out there, and to echo MJ's complaint, still not getting health insurance with those tax dollars.
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