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She went to the doctor and had her head examined. There was no sign of a physical cause. Her doctor prescribed some painkillers and sent her home.
Terra took the painkillers. But the pain remained.
She went to a yoga class to try to relax. When the rest of the class meditated, she tried to make the pain go away. But it did not; if anything, it got stronger.
Terra learned to live with her headache. It stayed in her head and constantly tried to distract her from work, friends, life. Sometimes it did, but more and more often it did not. She could not ignore it, but she could have a life despite it.
Then one day the headache suddenly went away. The first thing Terra noticed was that she felt wonderful, the sun was brighter but not making her squint, the smile on her face was so wide it nearly made her mouth hurt. Then she realized why - the headache was gone.
All her skills at living with the headache made her life after its departure that much better. She was happier than she'd ever been before the headache began, so many years before. She almost began to feel grateful to the headache for what it had taught her.
Then it came back.