We are not talking about chronic pain. We are talking about the pain that is caused by you making an effort at something.
When you were a child you cried when you had pain. Why was that? In part because you had no idea it would ever end. It was forever as far as you were concerned. But over time you realized the pain eventually went away, so the pain that made you cry at age 3 made you just grimace and hold your breath at age 10. You knew it would pass, you know you could outlast it.
Isn’t that true today of most pain we go through? Childbirth is pretty darn painful, but women go through it again and again in many cases. Why? Because they know it will pass and they will have a baby that will dissolve that pain into love.
Athletes go through the pain of training and of the competition because they know the pain will subside eventually and the glory, fun or exhilaration of the competition and the accomplishment will takes its place.
What level of pain are you willing to suffer, and for what goal?
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, an hour, a day or a year, but eventually it will subside & something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong, 1971-not dead yet, American Athlete