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You Already Know What’s Wrong — You Just Don’t Feel It Yet
Optimism is killing us faster than denial ever did.
Pain is the most effective teacher we’ve ever had. Not just the kind that comes from breaking a bone or stubbing a toe. I mean the whole miserable buffet: shame, grief, bankruptcy, rejection, humiliation. Physical pain just happens to be the easiest one to diagnose. The rest? They linger. They mold us. They make us rewrite who we are.
Try asking someone out and getting shot down. That burning behind your ribs? It teaches you something — about your timing, your tone, your deodorant. Make a joke at the wrong time, and you’ll remember the cringed faces long after the punchline. Pain drags us, kicking and screaming, into self-awareness.
Evolution’s Favorite Feedback Loop
Let’s not pretend pain is new. It’s the evolutionary cattle prod that got us from tree-dwelling primates to tool-wielding, debt-ridden, overconsuming modern humans. We only survived because the ones who ignored pain died off early. Burn your hand on a fire once, and you’ll teach your kids to stay the hell away from flames.
The survival lesson gets passed on. Don’t touch the hot stove. Don’t eat the glowing mushrooms. Don’t trust that saber-toothed smile. Pain shapes stories, culture, instinct. And…
