There’s Beauty in Affliction: Redefining the Concept of Pain
Have you ever noticed that most people who have gone through oppression or an almost incurable disease, or those who have suffered a lot in the past tend to be the most compassionate, understanding and surprisingly, stronger ones?
When in the middle of a crisis or emotional meltdown, many people choose to self-medicate or engage in behaviours that provide quick relief by simply covering the pain. There’s one reason for this. They are afraid to feel pain. Who wouldn’t be afraid of pain anyway? Pain brings feelings of discomfort and in many ways, it makes us incapacitated to live normally and engage in activities we usually do, from simple house chores to tough office works. Pain appears to discourage us from doing better as it diverts our attention from important things to a discomforting sensation. Perhaps this is why painkiller is one of the most prescribed medications in the world. Few people would allow their headache to linger even for just a couple of minutes. Most would pop a pill the moment they feel it coming.
It’s the same thing with emotional pain. Many people would rather take potentially harming drugs to feel better and shook away the pain that makes them suffer. But there’s accumulating evidence that psychiatric drugs such as antidepressants can do more harm than good.
Whilst psychological pain can cause us a serious kind of suffering, it has a good side too. From enhancing our creativity to improving our resilience and quality of life, it’s time to redefine how we perceive and experience pain.
The Good Side of Pain
Pain doesn’t just make us stronger. It also makes us better. Think about those who survived cancer and now living a ‘full’ life with their loved ones, cherishing every moment and being grateful for every little thing they accomplish. Here are some of the reasons why surviving pain and suffering makes our life better.
It widens our perspective. When we experience pain, we learn how to view the world in a different way, including how we view ourselves and others. It makes us appreciate those that we often ignore because when we’re in pain, we often miss to do such things. Through pain and suffering, we are able to spend more time on things that truly matter and reject temporary pleasures.
It drives us to success. Remember the old saying ‘No pain, no gain!’? Another good thing about pain is when we get tired of experiencing it, we become more motivated to fight back and improve ourselves. For instance, when our job doesn’t make us happy anymore, rather bored, anxious and stressed – the pain we feel drives us to find another career path and pursue what we really want in life. As many of us know, Steve Jobs was kicked out from the company he has started but that didn’t stop him from succeeding even more.
It motivates us be healthier. Many people don’t quit smoking until they found out that they are ill. Some don’t seem to pay attention to what they eat until they’ve realised they are gaining weight or experiencing symptoms of a disease. Pain, whether physical or emotional, signals us to do something about our health. The pain which results from poor body image often motivates people to start working out and make positive lifestyle changes.
It makes us more creative. Studies suggest that when negative emotions are so severe, they tend to block creativity as well as other cognitive functions like concentration and motivation, but when they are only moderate, they appear to boost creativity. This is probably why we are able to write heartfelt poems when we feel sad or not that happy. Furthermore, being confronted with a painful situation forces us to use our creativity and come up with the best possible solution for the problem at hand. Experiencing a balanced mix of good and painful emotions fosters creativity.
It makes us appreciate many things. Can you imagine how the music industry would have been without blues? Will most people appreciate other musical genres like pop, rock and funk the way they appreciate it now? Can you imagine a day without night? What if the world is full of beautiful things? Can we really tell they are beautiful had we not seen things that aren’t as attractive? All these facts of life tell us that there’s beauty behind affliction. Without pain, it’s most likely that none of us will appreciate happiness to the fullest. If everything we ask for is just around the corner, life becomes a boring endeavour. Pain makes us appreciate the good things we have, just as death makes us appreciate life.
It makes us more compassionate. Lastly, pain and suffering hone our compassion and make us ‘men and women for others’. When you’ve been into depression and you met someone who is currently going through it, your normal reaction would be to empathise because you knew how it feels to be depressed. This makes you want to reach out to that person and offer as much help you can give. When you’ve been into something terrible, you are more likely to do something to help others in similar situation and inspire them to move forward.
See? Who says pain is pure evil? Pain, although agonising as it sounds, offers us an opportunity to improve ourselves, widen our perspective, become successful, improve our health, appreciate even the little things in life, and reach out to others. That’s the beauty of affliction. Maybe it’s time that we redefine our perception about pain and use each painful moment as an instrument to make life worth living.
So far, what was greatest lesson you’ve learned from experiencing pain? We’d love to hear your story. Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.
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