I once read a shirt from THE ROCK that said something like, “Progress through pain”. I thought it was very deep and wise.

My spin:

Pain is progress.

Don’t be so afraid of pain

Why are we so afraid of pain? My thought: we’ve been socialized to become afraid of pain, difficulty, stress, and uncertainty.

For example, when a child is climbing trees, what is the first thing their over-protective parents say? “Be careful!” How rarely do parents say, “Wow, you’re so good at climbing trees!”

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When I was a kid, my mom let me do pretty much anything. Aggressive inline skating, roller hockey (she even bought me a Goalie outfit), tae kwon do, video games, wrestling, etc. In high school I had the freedom to also signup for American football— I didn’t need her permission. I just did it.

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How did the ancient Spartans rear their kids?

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They were not coddled. They were given tough training ever since they were kids. The upside? Tough kids make tough individuals. Tough individuals become tough heroes, and don’t cower to pain, suffering, and hardship.

Does pain debilitate you from pursuing your personal end goals and means?

Pain and suffering in life can be good, if your end-goal is hard and difficult. Consider, could Elon Musk have created Tesla and the Model 3 without insane amounts of pain and difficulty? NO! Can we give birth to children without insane pain? No!