Why am I always hurting myself?

It’s called clumsiness. You’re just like that.

I think certain people are simply more dextrous than others. When your body changes (as in puberty for example) this could be biological, but I think it’s just a general lack of coordination, or carelessness. Maybe you’re absent-minded sometimes? I have off days when I just bump into things and hurt myself, especially if I haven’t slept enough. That’s how I smashed my car.

Are you tall or were you as a child?? I only ask because being tall does have a correlation to “clumsiness”. I would explain if that is the case for you.

You may also try using salmon oil pills to help if you think it is absent-mindness that is causing the problems.

I think it might be that you go about life too quickly?? Does that sound accurate. I know when I rush I do the exact same things you are talking about. Especially when I am stressed. Try to take deep breaths, take breaks, slow yourself down a bit so you can be more aware of what you are doing in the present. Get out of your head and into your body. It is MUCH easier said then done.

What’s your balance like? Perhaps yoga would give you better body control?

I am a former dancer, so I believe I have some balance and grace, but like I said, this seems to have come on over the last 5 years or so.

@red I do tend to rush through life. I also tend not to live in the moment; my mind always seems to be somewhere else. Oh, and I’m 5ft 2inches tall, so that can’t be it.

@tinyfaery I bet it is the rushing then and the being in your mind. The more you move through the present the easier it becomes to avoid such things.

Oliver Sacks wrote about a sense called “proprioception” which is (if I remember right)
about locating your physical body in space.
I was going to suggest you look that up, but I think RedPowerLady has nailed this. You
are an intense person (that’s no secret) and you may need to learn to focus and breathe and locate your consciousness (as opposed to your body) in the present. And you can.
G.I. Gurdjieff had an interesting phrase for it: he called it “remembering yourself”.
Lurve.

@tinyfaery My wife is also very clumsy and 5’2”. Her mind is a bit random as well. She finally just got an Aflac accident insurance policy. It pays her $120 every time she gets hurt and sees a doctor. Until you can cure yourself of the problem, you may consider a policy to make the pain not suck so bad.

As @AlfredaPrufrock suggested, I would also highly recommend yoga. I’m amazed at my sense of balance compared to what it used to be. I am also much more focused because of it.

@tinyfaery You sound just like me! I never really considered why I have this problem, I just kind of accepted it. Reading these responses, I’m rethinking that. I live in my head all the time… maybe that is it!

@AlfredaPrufrock @RedPowerLady @susanc I think you’ve hit it right on the money.

I am distracted, often multitasking, thinking of a million things at once. I’m a great multi-tasker, but have been clumsy and accident-prone my whole entire life. I’ve got the injured feet and broken toes to prove it.

I started getting better when I got into massage school. The process taught me about body awareness and how I exist in space. I started thinking more about balance and movement. I started to become familiar of every dimension of my body both as a therapist moving through space, and as a body receiving massage. The awakened awareness of each of my bodily surfaces and shapes that appeared almost like magic was a small epiphany. All just by getting regular massage (as homework, and on every inch of my body except for the no-no spots).

This. Was. Profound. The more touch I received, the more I stopped existing from just the neck up and the more grounded to the earth I felt. I noticed how graceful I had become.

I began exercising regularly, and working out. This maintains my dimensional awareness.

I rarely knock stuff down or stub my toes these days. I do notice it comes back though if I’m extremely fatigued or already in pain, and my mind is trying to shut myself off from or stop paying attention to my body to “back burner” these aches.

I was the child at the breakfast table who was so busy talking that I poured cocoa in my ear. Five years ago I was looking for a comet in the dark with binoculars on my deck. I fell down some steps and ended up in hospital for 6 days.

Now I practice mindfulness. I have stopped rushing, multitasking and obsessing about he lists that beget lists.

I think it could definitely have something to do with core strength and balance. Anytime I’m regularly doing any activity that strengthens the core -karate, certain types of free weights workouts, a lot of belly dancing – I have less of those sorts of problems.

There’s something else that it might be though. I’m not sure how old you are, but maybe you’ve been this way for longer than you think and you’re just noticing it more because the bruises last longer and other things take longer to heal the older we get. Just a thought.

edit: the for he.

When I get really ungrounded I crash into stuff a lot. Maybe you just need some grounding?

(aside; why would anyone give me a GA for that edit?)

Are you dizzy sometimes?

Maybe you are just going a bit too fast. I find I do this sometimes; when I realize this I can take steps to slow myself down, and the clumsy accidents and dish smashings go down dramatically.

You could also have an inner ear issue, causing a loss of balance.

Ok, you know how above I said I’d “gotten over” being clumsy and accident prone, and improved my body awareness?

Well, I’m full of shit, you guys. I was rushing around my apartment this morning getting ready and worrying about running late, and stubbed my toes bad enough to lose my pinky-toe nail. That fucking hurts, you guys.

^^Ouch. Poor toe.

@3or4monsters I hope the lurve makes it all better. <3

I say ouch all the time and my husband calls me a wuss. Do you just have a low tolerance for pain?