Pain's Catalyst: Awakening the Power of Action

Here is the audio podcast version on Spotify.

Building on the last newsletter, the fact that we live in a comfort crisis.

In this letter, I am here to discuss the idea of why pain is the driver of action.

Our brains are wired to stay in comfortable, predictable, secure and safe environments.

It favors our survival.

It goes against our nature if we don’t.

Our comfort zones keeps us safe and unseen.

It protects us from scrutiny, potential failure and criticisms.

We can remain small as long as we stay in our comfort bubble.

But comfort and predictability also becomes the very thing that stops us from living up to our fullest potential.

It keeps us from going after what we want in life.

By not allowing ourselves to be seen, we risk missing out on opportunities that allow us to grow.

By letting and choosing to let fear control and dictate us, we remain a prisoner to our minds.

By staying comfortable, we are giving ourselves permission to be complacent.

A shitty job is not painful enough for us to quit.

A shitty relationship isn’t enough for us to break up.

A shitty lifestyle isn’t enough for us to act.

This is why I am convinced that, pain is the antidote here.

You must be thinking what the fuck Eunice? I opened your email newsletter for this?

I know I know…hear me out.

*******

Pain is the catalyst that makes the job, relationship, the lifestyle, the situation bad enough that tips you over the edge.

For you to realize you can’t live like this anymore.

For you to go from floating to treading water to drowning.

For you to go from wanting control to surrendering control.

For you to realize you don’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again…wishing and expecting for a different result.

Because by definition, that is the definition of insanity.

Pain can be so painful that it shuts you down from all courses of action.

But being in pain long enough, you realize you cannot continue to do nothing.

That is when pain becomes useful to you.

That is when pain pays you (future) dividends.

Because that is when there is enough pain that pushes, forces, urges, motivates you to do something about it.

*****

Up to my 27 years of life, I have never understood this until recent years.

As I continue to learn more about myself, the world and others, I am learing to love that life is full of conflicting truths.

The idea that you need to reach a level of pain before you take action.

Think about it.

Every-time you have encountered a problem in your life, you took action because you couldn’t take it anymore.

Your back HURTS ENOUGH for you to book in a chrio or a massage appointment to relieve yourself from the pain.

You book a doctors appointment WHEN your symptoms reach a point of annoyance and is symptomatic enough for you to take action.

You become so broke that you get your shit together to look for a job.

You become so heartbroken from being disrespected, mistreated, you start working on yourself.

You become so fed up with being taken advantage of that you set boundaries to those who have benefitted from the lack of it.

You become so sick of being dismissed, you start using your voice to speak up.

The list goes on.

But I hope you understand the big picture I am trying to paint for you here.

*****

This is why we should all embrace the pain life gifts us with.

Embrace the challenges you have in your life right now.

It’s trying to teach you something.

I encourage you to lean into it.

If you want, we can work together and I can guide you through it here.

The shit that happens in life doesn’t happen “to” you, it happens “for” you, this understanding comes with time and reflection.

The takeaway I want you to gain from today is, you don’t have to wait until it gets to the point of extreme pain to take action.

There is a saying - prevention is better than a cure.

I’m a big believer for seeing the grey in a world full of black and white.

I am a big believer of navigating the grey in the middle line.

There is always another option.

It is not one of the other.

But society has conditioned you to see it that way and it is impacting your more than you think.

Once you are able to shift your perspective to this, you win in life.

It has helped me tremendously.

Live in the grey.

Love the middle line.

Identify and write down what that means and would look like for you in practical terms.

Identify the discomforts that come up.

Give yourself permission, grace and access the courage within you to make a change.

I know you can.

We all can.

********

That is it for this Newsletter.

Thank you for being here on this journey with me.

Stay tuned.

If you'd like to get in touch and book in a 1:1 therapy & coaching session, click Here.

If you are ready to be challenged and want to rewire your limiting beliefs, get started with Attack The Roots Of Your Patterns. This ebook will ask you questions that shake you up at your core that you will see yourself, the world and others differently.

Listen to my latest podcast episode on Comfort is our biggest enemy Here.

Join the top 5% of self-improvers by figuring our your shitty defaults patterns. Subscribe to my Newsletter HERE.