No pain = no gain?

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I used to hate that cliché when the musclehead gym-rats tossed it around. Frankly, it sounded like something a masochist would say. Or John Mellencamp: “Hurts so good…..!” I liked the response from standup comic Rick Overton: “No pain = NO PAIN!”

But I read a couple of quotes today that give me a new perspective on it. It sort of follows the concept that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.

We need to be shaped by pain in order to find what we seek. The pain we feel now leads us to a better life by teaching us who we are, what we want, and how we get it.  If we ignore this lesson by taking the easy way out, we betray ourselves. But also, it’s an insult to life. – Eddie Corbano

The more pain I train myself to stand, the more I learn. You are afraid of pain now, Unk, but you won’t learn anything if you don’t invite the pain. And the more you learn, the gladder you will be to stand the pain. – Kurt Vonnegut, “The Sirens of Titan”