How Life Taught Me To Absorb Pain And Take Jabs In My Face
Personal self-reflection story with bits of practical everyday wisdom
Tenacity is one of the overlooked words in the hypevocabulary made of overused phrases such as never give up, no pain no gain, etc. It represents the quality of willingly persisting through difficulties.
To be tenacious means taking the pain, gnawing on it like a pitbull, and spitting it out on the ground, while continuing to march forward valiantly.
Being removed completely out of your comfort zone is something that not many people can relate to. When I say completely I mean literally being ripped off from your warm, cozy home and thrown into the dark pit of the unknown.
That’s what happened to me 250 days ago, except I did it intently. During this period many challenges emerged out of nowhere and tried to make me succumb to self-pity, but I was tenacious. And it was not until recently that I became aware of this important word and its full meaning in real life.
Many times my challenges manifested themselves as worries and health problems. Almost every time the underlying trigger was stress caused by this huge change. It was simply a shock for my system; on one hand, I was dreaming about the outer world from a safe place, and on the other, the reality I used to exist in has changed entirely.
What is the exact problem I faced, you may ask? Let’s say that being unable to predict my environment had driven me nuts multiple times per day and there was nothing I could do to change it.
It feels like you are tied to a bomb-like device that makes squeaky ticking sounds without a visible timer. You don’t know what’s next going to happen. Heck, you’re not even sure if it’s a bomb in the first place. It’s a mind-blowing vortex that creates black holes inside your head, I swear.
My mind had been invaded with all kinds of questions to which I hadn’t had an answer. I would wallow in my own inability to do anything to solve the problem and where I ended up? I had come to a conclusion that I need to learn how to absorb the pressure and pain, and keep moving under the storm of negative thoughts. I had learned that I can’t live every day in a fear of uncertainty. I had learned the power of tenacity — being tough against the invisible, unbeatable, and omnipresent enemy — against your own mind!
The ability to take jabs in the face and be okay with it when you are helpless can take you a long way in life if you play it smart.
Even though I learned many lessons in these 8 months, this is by far one of the best. However, the worst is now behind me, and I really feel like my mind is completely impenetrable at the moment. And It’s such a powerful feeling, to be honest with you.
The decision I made back then was equal to a madman jumping straight into the fire, but it seems to be the best decision I’ve made in my whole life. Many great lessons were learned, yet there are many more!
Thank you for taking the time to read this story! Anyways…
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