Gain, No Pain

No pain, no gain.

Who hasn’t heard that gem before? Who hasn’t accepted it as truth?

For whatever reason, we tend to glorify suffering. Accomplishing things should be hard, should come with a dear cost. Otherwise those things lack value. If you’re not willing to suffer for A, B, and C, you’re just lazy and no account. Back in the day we had to work for what we got. You wouldn’t understand…

The idea of stress hits many of us somewhere in the high school years, on the heels of the practice of procrastination. A mad, late night dash to finish a project plants the seed that under stress, at last, we can get things done. The agitation, the headache, the lost sleep … that’s the pain. The relief, if not the grade itself, the gain. Once established, the model accompanies us to other classes, other schools, to jobs and relationships. Though maybe not an ideal way to live, embracing stress as a life strategy would be no big deal if not for the very real cumulative effects of stress on mental, emotional, and physical health.

The secret, though, is that performance is also diminished by stress, as it creates tension and decreases awareness.

We learn to use stress, which is of course a self-created phenomenon, to access focus. The ability to focus deeply on the task at hand establishes the condition that allows us to move forward with our projects, work, etc. Stress is little more than an unnecessary, and unhealthy, trigger for focus.

A similar bit of nonsense is one learns more in defeat than in victory. If one only analyzes in defeat, one only learns how to lose more efficiently. Seeing pain or loss as a prerequisite for gain is nothing more than preloading excuses for failure.

For one who seeks a higher goal, such as to not merely win but to engender success and growth, reflection occurs no matter the most recent outcome. An ongoing examination spotlighting ways to enhance desired skills, while minimizing or eliminating stress and other inhibiting factors, increases the likelihood of achieving flow and experiencing the fullness of life.