Pain

Lately I have been thinking a lot about pain. In our society, pain is viewed as a nuisance and hinders our everyday comfort. How often do we turn to something to dull the pain? More often than not that something is more than a pill from the cabinet. I’m not saying we shouldn’t seek reasonable comfort, but I am saying that ‘life pains’ should be dealt with not covered up. God gives us pain so that we can grow. He gives us opportunity again and again for great reward, but we are afraid to stand up and fight.

“People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that's bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they're afraid to feel? Pain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they're wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It's all in how you carry it. That's what matters. Pain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you're letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.” – Jim Morrison

Relating this to training, this verse comes to mind:

“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.” -Hosea 6:1

Every day we are tearing our bodies apart in the gym, on the track, on the trails, in the pool, where ever it may be. We tear them apart so they can be rebuilt stronger. We can shave 20 seconds off our 5K time with weeks of core work. We spend days in the pool to ‘try’ and perfect our form with the only goal to swim seconds faster. We get up at 5am when its 5 degree out to run. It all hurts, mentally and physically. However, the end is worth the means (at least our crazy minds tend to think so).

God treats us the same way; he puts us in uncomfortable places and asks us to trust Him. He causes us pain that we just don’t want to deal with because some days we have just already had too much. We try and cover it with work, school, friends, dating, and then all the winners… drugs, alcohol, and just giving up. God always fixes us and makes us better than before. Every day is a chance to learn something new and affect someone’s life. Pain sucks, but without pain we would not have growth.
Pain is about seeing how strong you are mentally, more so, pain is about seeing how strong you are spiritually.

Every day I ask myself why I want to complete an ironman. I want to be able to say I did it; I want to be able to say I ran 26.2 as a cool down. I want the attention, the body, and the lifestyle. I want to show everyone I have what it takes to challenge myself, to push myself, and to succeed. At the end of the day all of that is just a bonus, I want to complete this ironman to learn from the pain it will cause me. It will hurt, I will cry, I will give up, but at the end of the day I will have a much deeper understanding of the relationships I have with others around me.

“Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.” – Lance Armstrong