Embrace the Pain, Witness the Gain
As women we all know whether we've experienced birthing a child or not, that there is pain that comes with it. No birth can come until labor pains have occurred. When labor occurs, birth will surely follow.
As I look deeper into this reality, God reveals a new perception of pain. If you want to change your life, it's going to take a new mindset. It will take a different approach to how you perceive the discomfort of pain. Similar to birthing a baby, because you know the gift of a baby will be the end result of that agonizing and laborious pushing, you don't give up. You keep pushing, right? The same goes for life's challenges and trials. If you are cognizant that your challenges, albeit past, present or future were designed to make you a better version of who you were before the challenge, it should change how you feel about what you endured. It should make you stronger for the next challenge. Instead of resisting or retreating, you would begin to embrace the process.
Wow! Look at the power that gives you! In addition, most mothers say after giving birth that the fulfillment of their new bundle of joy makes them forget the pain and or many go on to do it all over again and again whether they remember the pain or not. It's safe to say the pain and all the uncomfortable processes of carrying another human including the morning sickness, weird cravings, body and hormonal changes, can't even compare to the joy of seeing that tiny baby face for the first time!
If you need physical fitness motivation, let's apply the same principles. We can all agree that working out isn't the most relaxing activity, right? Your workout will include some level of discomfort through resistance to see a change in your body. Becoming a mentally and physically stronger, confident, and energetic you in the process is greater than the pain of discomfort it took to come off your couch and out of your comfort zone.
Even physiologically, muscles must be ripped or torn through resistance to spur muscle growth by creating new muscle fibers.
Again, applying this same concept to past trauma or present and future challenges will position you to come out better and stronger on the other side. Some of us allow those experiences to make us bitter because the way we process and filter them through our old lens. The old lens views pain as bad and counterproductive. But looking at it through this new lens can actually change the trajectory of our lives and actually move us forward, with intention and time.
I will dive deeper into how we carry the weight of our trials and trauma in a later blog post. We will discover how carrying the weight in proper form is just as important as carrying the weight. As with weight training principles, sacrificing form leads to injury and stagnates your growth. Catching on yet?
A rule of thumb: See your problems in life as weight in a gym against which muscles grow. Character comes through resistance, and the gift of that character gives you power! God won't allow these things that caused pain to happen in your life without you gaining something from it. What you gain will far outweigh the pain you endured.
We have a race to run, let's finish well and finish strong!