Embrace the pain

Li Yuxuan
Nov 8, 2016
3 min read

First thing first, don't know where the sudden surge of pseudo-confidence came from, I sped up my bicycle just right before a 90 degree turn. My bicycle got stuck into the turf beside the road and myself? Of course flew off my bike and made a perfect landing (heavy crush) onto the asphalt road.

But I don't want to go into details to talk about all the wounds or whatsoever. I don't believe there is any person in the history who could spend through his entire lifetime without a single injury. What really triggered me to think a bit deeper was my own reaction and the natural thoughts coming to my mind after I tasted the pain.

Why was our body designed by nature to take in this sensation that nobody seems to like--pain? I think there must be some reasons.

Pain is like a stopping signal from our bodies to our muscles. With pain, you will drop the knife immediately once you make a shallow cut on your skin. Pain also warns us not to repeat the same action again. These are some reasons that are common sense to us, right? But what if I say, pain is also a form of self-liberation and self-emotion regulation?

You may think I'm probably crazy. But indeed, after this small accident, I suddenly more or less understand why some people, especially some teenagers, can have the courage to deliberately cut themselves when they are feeling depressed and melancholic.

I'm not saying that I like to have pain. Of course nobody likes pain, unless it's some sort of illness. However, when pain really comes, when you have to face it even if you don't want to, it really tells me something that I would never discover if I'm intact and in comfort. Are those people who deem self-harm as a form of self-relief really mad? Or they have their own rationales and stories to tell.

Perhaps my view is shallow and limited, but personally, I think they are not more than normal people as we are. It is just because they choose to embrace the pain rather than shunning away from it. When I bit my teeth tightly and put ethanol over my wound, after the temporary needle-pricking surged through my entire body, I actually felt no more pain but relief. At that moment, my entire body and energy were all concentrated at the one single area. Muscle tightened, sweat seeped through skins, attention trying to shift to somewhere else, waiting for the pain to pass. I swear, that was the most peaceful moment I've ever had in life, a moment with zero worry about other hassles in life, a moment when time froze and heart calmed to the very bottom to embrace the pain.

Yes, pain is meant for us to embrace. Those people who get demoralised by all sorts of confrontations in life, got dumped by his girlfriend, got fired by his boss, got a failure in the exam, etc., find the pain by themselves by making small cuts on their skins. By feeling the pain and embracing it, they temporarily forget all the trouble they have. More importantly, by taking the courage to create pain and then fighting the pain on their own, they find their spirit and passion back and return to their normal lives at surprisingly high speed. After going through the pain, they are able to overcome the dark side of their inner selves and stand up against their depression.

Therefore, pain is not that bad, right? It is just one of the many experiences that we are predestined to have through our lifelong journey. Embrace it, and then you will discover more about yourself and put yourself back onto the right track.