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I talked the other week about 'struggling'.
And how it was good.
About how when we're not struggling, we're not really pushing ourselves.
Just coasting.
Doing what we've always done.
If we're happy with that, and the results it produces, that's cool.
But if we're not, struggling isn't a bad thing.
It's a pre-requisite for change.
It's good.
At Break Point last Wednesday, I came to another realisation.
Whilst holding stress positions in the freezing cold, unable to see.
As people shouted at me (good old social distancing meant they couldn't do it right in my ear though).
I couldn't stop the pain.
But I could chose whether to suffer with it or not.
Wikipedia defines 'suffering' as "an experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual."
The key word there is 'perception'.
"The way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted".
I couldn't change the pain.
But I could change my interpretation of it.
What I made it mean.
I could chose to see it as a problem.
Or I could see it as an opportunity.
To learn something about myself.
To gain insights.
The amount of actual pain would be the same either way.
But one experience would be better than the other.
At that point the pain was inevitable.
The suffering was optional.
Pain is inevitable. Challenge is good. Suffering is optional.
Much love,
Jon 'Succotash' Hall
