As I try to juggle an increasingly hectic work schedule and my workout/swimming plans, one thing is pretty constant. That is pain.
Not just the physical pain that comes with using muscles in the pool that have seen very little use in the last six years, or the pain of being out of shape and struggling to get back into shape. But also pain of the mind, from wrestling with the figurative problem child at work, from putting in long hours with little in the way of tangible results. The physical pain is quite refreshing, the mental pain not so much.
Several of the folks who read this blog know that I'm a HUGE fan of Jim Butcher and his novels, the main series of which is the Dresden Files. Here are four excellent philosophical and ridiculously motivating quotes from the series regarding pain, which help me put my pain in perspective.
Quote 1:
"Pain used as a weapon is one thing. Personal pain, the kind that
comes from just living our lives, is something else. Pain isn’t a lot of
fun, at least not for most folks, but it is
utterly unique to life. Pain-physical, emotional, and otherwise-is the
shadow cast by everything you want out of life, the alternative
to the result you were hoping for, and the inevitable creator of
strength. From the pain of our failures we learn to be better, stronger,
greater than what we were before. Pain is there to tell us when we’ve
done something badly-it’s a teacher, a guide, one that is always there
to both warn us of our limitations and challenge us to overcome them.
For something no one likes, pain does us a whole hell of a lot of good."
Quote 2:
"...We still hadn't learned, though, that growing up is all about getting
hurt. And then getting over it. You hurt. You recover. You move on. Odds
are pretty good you're just going to get hurt again. But each time, you
learn something.
Each time, you come out of it a little stronger, and at some point
you realize that there are more flavors of pain than coffee. There's the
little empty pain of leaving something behind - graduating, taking the
next step forward, walking out of something familiar and safe into the
unknown. There's the big, whirling pain of life upending all of your
plans and expectations. There's the sharp little pains of failure, and
the more obscure aches of successes that didn't give you what you
thought they would. There are the vicious, stabbing pains of hopes being
torn up. The sweet little pains of finding others, giving them your
love, and taking joy in their life they grow and learn. There's the
steady pain of empathy that you shrug off so you can stand beside a
wounded friend and help them bear their burdens.
And if you're very, very lucky, there are a very few blazing hot
little pains you feel when you realized that you are standing in a
moment of utter perfection, an instant of triumph, or happiness, or
mirth which at the same time cannot possibly last - and yet will remain
with you for life.
Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don't feel it.
Pain is a part of life. Sometimes it's a big part, and sometimes it
isn't, but either way, it's a part of the big puzzle, the deep music,
the great game. Pain does two things: It teaches you, tells you that
you're alive. Then it passes away and leaves you changed. It leaves you
wiser, sometimes. Sometimes it leaves you stronger. Either way, pain
leaves its mark, and everything important that will ever happen to you
in life is going to involve it in one degree or another."
Quote 3:
"Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about
it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don't feel it."
Quote 4:
"Pain is a byproduct of life. That’s the truth. Life sometimes
sucks. That’s true for everyone. But if you don’t face the pain and the
suck, you don’t ever get the other things either. Laughter. Joy. Love.
Pain passes, but those things are worth fighting for. Worth dying for."
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