No Pain, No Gain

 Top 10 Causes of Running Pain | HowStuffWorks

Half a lifetime ago I was an athlete. One cross country season I wore a shirt emblazoned with “No pain, no gain.” I actually have the shirt in my closet- some memories I won’t let go.

Athletes who hope to have any length of career listen to their bodies. They know when pain signifies muscle growth and strength and when it signals overuse and potential injury. They know when to push through the hard times to reach success and when to rest and recover to achieve long-term goals.

Somehow, it seems easier to differentiate between good pain and bad pain in our bodies than in our spirits or hearts. Maybe other people are better at this, but I want to avoid any emotional pain. Just like the physical growth and strength that is gained in hard times, we have opportunities to grow when we’re uncomfortable or hurting or angry or scared. Characteristics like kindness and patience can develop out of these hard times, if we’re willing to push through the pain.

No pain, no gain.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discovering Happiness

What makes you happy? Since I have a Bachelor’s in psychology, I could tell you that nothing can make you feel a certain way.  You choose to perceive the circumstances around you and interpret those thoughts into feelings.  What fun is that? Julie Andrews sang about “My Favorite Things” in the movie, “Sound of Music”: Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings… Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings… Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes Silver white winters that melt into springs These are a few of my favorite things I’m not quite as poetic, but here a few of my favorite things: May sunshine, warming my face and arms Rich dark c...
Read more

Acknowledgement

Okay, acknowledgement is not really a value.  It's more of an action, but it has everything to do with the way you view the world and your relationship with other people.  My pastor used an illustration in his sermon today... you wouldn't walk into a dinner at the White House (assuming you were invited) and not acknowledge the President.  He would be the reason you were at the White House, and the person who happens to live there.  Even though the people we come into contact on a daily basis may not have as much clout as the President of the United States, they still matter.  I work in a nursing home.  I am deeply aware that just taking the time to nod or smile or say hello to residents I pass in the hallway is vitally important.  Many of these people already feel discarded by their families, hopeless about their health, and live day to day going from medications to therapy to meals, and not much else.  If you want to make a difference in ...
Read more

The Pink Slip

I haven't blogged for awhile.  At some point I decided that writing daily was never going to get me to the writing career I longed for.  However, since I am recently unemployed (technically self-employed with a tiny paycheck), I thought maybe sharing my experiences in that category might be helpful to others. I've always felt the most for those who have been laid off because there wasn't enough work, or there were budget cuts, or the position was eliminated.  No one feels sorry for the person who was fired. That's me.  Fired, canned, terminated, given the pink slip.  I had been joking for years that I looked forward to that day.  It wasn't that great, after all.  Although I don't believe I deserved it, no one wants to hear that.  It doesn't matter that Indiana is an at-will employment state, and that my employer did just that- fired me without a good reason.  I didn't complete a project because I was working overtime with what...
Read more