If you’re breathing you most likely have a pain file. And if you’re anything like me you hate pain.
For the longest time, I grumbled against God:
“Where were you God when my father was acting a fool; I mean, why didn’t you do something?”
I wish I could say that was where my whining stopped, It wasn’t. But you get the idea.
Yeah, God gets blamed for everything by most people these days. He must have very broad shoulders
But you know what my pain journey has taught me, name?
It has taught me that pain has the potential to be transformational. Let’s be honest. Most of us are as stubborn as mules.
Pain gets our attention. It stops us dead in our tracks. It is the only time we are forced to go within.
But while pain’s potential is loaded with possibility, it is also infused with disappointment.
I remember that I used to love watching Basketball when I first came to America. The knicks had some formidable players like John Starks, Patrick Ewin and a few others. Yet the team just could not win a championship.
All that possibility is lost to unfulfilled potential.
Of course, I stopped watching. It was too painful…
Unfulfilled potential is its own brand of pain. Many of us just choose to coast after a few bumps in the road.
But consider this.
Do you realize that in the middle of major surgery, it looks like a murder scene? How about a woman giving birth?
What if while I was pushing, moaning and groaning when giving birth to my now tall, handsome, dark and smart 13-year-old son, Isaac, my doctor had said to my husband,
“I just can’t bear to see her in so much pain, let’s just stop right now!’
Giving birth to Isaac literally separated my pelvis!
Straight-up trauma.
Yet I would never in a million years reverse that experience, assuming I had the choice.
Ok, that got a little gory. Sorry.
Plus I am all healed up now 🙂
But have you noticed that we want the throne but no thorns, the crown without the cross, and the glory without the guts?
But transformation without pain is unrealistic. Whether it is physical or emotional pain, unless we choose the right perspective, we will endure even more pain, than our unfulfilled potential.
This type of pain is unnecessary.
Pain like a failure with the proper perspective is the prerequisite to our upgrade. The next level. The next dimension.
Our next __________
What will you fill your blank in with?
It will depend on how you are currently handling your pain.
So, as you dig through your pain file, consider which pain has brought you your greatest gains and or growth?
Would you agree that the pain that brought you the greatest growth has also brought you the greatest gain?
Has anyone benefited from your growth? Is anyone healing because of your growth?
I bet someone is because healing is the gift that keeps on giving.
So remember that your pain holds promise, potential and possibility but you will miss them if you and I do not embrace the right perspective.
As always, I am and will forever remain,
Your Biggest Cheer Leader
Angela Gibson
Life Coach & Entrepreneur
