The Archer (Fibro Version)

 

Invisible Arrows of Pain

In Taylor Swift’s The Archer, she sings about vulnerability, invisible battles, and the ache of feeling misunderstood. When I listen to it through the lens of fibromyalgia, I can’t help but laugh at how perfectly it describes what I live with daily — except in my case, it’s like my body is both the archer and the target.

Some days, I wake up and it feels like I’ve been hit with arrows in places I didn’t even know could hurt. One morning, it’s my ribs. Another day, it’s my shoulders. Then without warning, my legs decide they’re next. It’s like an archer with terrible aim, firing arrows randomly just to keep me on my toes (or more accurately, off them).

Fibromyalgia pain is invisible to the outside world, which makes it even more fitting. People can’t see the arrows that land. They can’t see how sharp, how heavy, or how exhausting they are. To them, I might look “fine,” but inside, it’s a battlefield. And just like Taylor sings, “I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost,” those sleepless nights of pain are all too familiar.

The funny part? Sometimes I can laugh at the absurdity of it all. I’ll think, “Really, body? My elbow? That’s today’s target?” It’s like living with an unpredictable prankster archer who has no rules. And humor becomes my armor, a way to soften the blow when my body throws me curveballs.

But underneath the humor, The Archer also captures that tender truth of chronic illness — the longing to be understood. To have someone see the arrows even if they’re invisible. To feel safe admitting, “Yes, I’m hurting, even if you can’t see it.”

So when I hear this song, it feels like an anthem for fibro warriors everywhere. Because even when the arrows keep coming, we still stand, we still fight, and we still try to find lightness in the pain. And that, to me, is the bravest kind of archery there is.

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