I’m not talking about headaches and chest pains, or some masochistic bondage dungeon. You can sort that kind of thing out yourself. I’m talking about mental and spiritual pain. Like when your pride has been battered. Or that niggling uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach when you feel you should be doing something else. Those are the things you’ve got to act on. Pain doesn’t come out of nowhere. It's a friendly voice that's trying to tell you something.
1) It tells you you’re growing.
In the world of athletic and sports, pain is a given. You work to your limits, in order to smash through them, one step at a time. For example, in the quest to achieve a better body, every rep of a certain weight brings you closer to the pain. It brings you closer to your goal. Arnold Schwarzenegger will explain it better than I can:
‘The body isn’t used to maybe the 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th rep with a certain weight, so that makes the body grow, then you go through this pain barrier. Experiencing pain in your muscles and aching and just going on and on and on and these last two or three or four repetitions, that’s what makes the muscles grow. And that’s what divides one from a champion and one from not being a champion. If you can go through this pain barrier, you may get to be a champion. If you can’t go through, forget it.’
If you’re hurting, you’re growing. This isn’t limited to the gym or the field. In any endeavour in life, pain = growth. That single solitary second where your mind screams out will do more than all of the other moments put together. Picture you and what you perceive yourself to be as an orchestra. Well, that one moment of intolerable pain is the rising crescendo to your life’s dreams and aspirations. Go after it and celebrate it.
2) It proves you’re out of your comfort zone.
It goes without saying; when you’re in pain you aren’t comfortable. Not in the slightest. You’re in fight or flight mode and your senses are heightened. Perceptions change. Material things you thought were amazing might suddenly appear worthless.
Being out of your comfort zone time and time again like this is the only way to finally realise the truth: there are no limits. Everything you’ve ever considered your ‘boundaries’ are nothing but a self-created prison. By being on the outside and looking in, they disappear.
3) It signals the impossible becoming possible.
When you attempt something outside of your preconceived notion of safety your mind will tell you it’s impossible. It will then try and drag you back to the place where it can maintain its illusory power. Don’t let it! Whether you’re jumping out of a plane or chatting to that out-of-your-league girl at the bar, know that whatever you’re fearing isn’t real. It hasn’t happened. Don’t let mental shadows paralyze you, be the light; then and only then – success or failure – will the pain dissolve and make you grow.
We seem to have been brought up in a culture that says we should never be in pain. That we should always be comfy, fed, and sleepy. I say b!*@%cks. It’s okay to be hurt. It’s okay to have a few restless nights. It’s part of being human. Whatever you’re scared of – embarrassment, ridicule – that’s not pain! Putting something off time and time again, then realising it’s too late – that’s pain.
Embrace the worst. Celebrate it! It’s the only way to let go of self-indulgence. These crippling challenges you learn to love will make you the humble, well-rounded, and successful person you were always meant to be.
