As human beings, we tend to avoid pain as much as possible. Whether it’s the pain of a difficult situation or the pain of physical exercise, we try to steer clear of anything that causes discomfort. However, what if we told you that pain is actually a gift? This might seem counterintuitive, but hear us out.
A few years ago, I was working for a company and had just been promoted to a new opportunity. This new role required that I move from my current facility to the corporate headquarters building. As I was making my move back to the corporate headquarters, I saw a coworker I knew from when I first started working there years before. She worked as a security guard at the company and when I saw her, I’d always say hello and ask how things were going. She would always reply because she was a really nice person.
When I moved back to take on the new role, I noticed something different about my friend. She was 180 pounds lighter than she was when I first started working for the company. She looked amazing, healthy, happy and like she was doing really well. So I asked her, “What was the secret behind that amazing transformation she experienced?
This is what she said. “The pain of change has to be less than the pain of staying where you are.” That statement got me thinking about something that I’ve learned about the word pain. Pain is one of those things that actually can help us.
Pain comes to give you two things. First, it lets you know that something is out of order. Something is not working somewhere. If you didn’t have pain, then you wouldn’t know that something was going wrong, and that could really get worse and be really bad for your health. Pain is telling you, “Hey, something’s wrong here? You need to do something about this.” So when we talk about pain being a gift, one of the things it does is it helps us by letting us know what is out of order.
Secondly, pain represents weakness leaving the body. You cannot gain strength or get better at something without some pain of some kind. Think about a professional athlete or a bodybuilder. They push themselves to their limits, and yes, it’s painful, but that pain is what helps them grow stronger. So pain really is weakness leaving the body along with telling you that something is just not right at all.
So, what can we learn from pain? Firstly, we have to learn to embrace painful situations sometimes. Painful situations can be an opportunity for growth and development. Secondly, we have to learn to deal with pain and not run away from it. By facing our pain head-on, we can overcome it and emerge stronger on the other side. And finally, we have to learn to listen to our pain. Pain is a signal that something is not right, and by paying attention to it, we can address the underlying issues and improve our overall health and well-being.
In conclusion, pain is not something to be feared, but rather something to be embraced. It’s a gift that can help us grow and develop into our best selves. So the next time you’re faced with pain, instead of running away from it, lean into it and see what lessons it has to teach you.