Two Contrasting Ways to Endure through Pain
How not to give up when the going gets tough
We have all experienced situations where the going got tough due to physical or mental pain and exhaustion. Moreover, we may not always have the option of taking a break. In such situations, the only options are to keep moving forward or give up entirely.
In most cases, discomfort, physical or emotional, is not dangerous, but only adds resistance to our progress or even causes us to either procrastinate or give up. For example, doing taxes is boring and uncomfortable, but the discomfort is harmless.
Here I will present two contrasting ideas to persevere through discomfort and endure the pain.
Embrace the discomfort
This is a very effective approach described [1] by Brent Gleeson, a retired Navy Seal, where he recounts the insights that helped him endure Hell Week.
Just give up. Don’t fight it. Embrace the pain. Beg for more. Change the narrative in your mind. — Brent Gleeson [1]
This attitude converts pain into aggression directed toward the challenge of upholding the ethos of not giving up [2]. A part of the ethos that describes this aspect is as follows:
If knocked down, I will get back up every time… I am never out of the fight — [1]
For instance, if we find ourselves facing a short deadline, it may trigger fear and frustration. The anticipation of long hours and sleepless nights will naturally make it more difficult to get started. With this attitude, we will not give up, look forward to the stress and sleep deprivation, and take action. Our exhaustion will strengthen our resolution and drive us forward. Through practice, we can make a habit of using discomfort as a cue to take constructive action.
I tested this approach with running. I do cardio for 10 minutes regularly but not much running. Therefore, I am not accustomed to it. This time instead, I decided to go to the beach and run 5 miles. On mile 2.5 my Quadriceps started to hurt, but I embraced the pain, looked forward to more, and became aggressive about keeping on going. In the end, I successfully finished the 5-mile run that took me about an hour.
Pain is mere nerve impulses
This perspective on pain is on the other end of the spectrum, where we can view discomfort as insignificant, as we already know it does not pose a threat. The problem is, despite knowing the latter, our mind automatically reacts to pain in the form of fear, thus hindering our progress by seizing our focus.
The reductionist approach I came up with, views pain and discomfort as nerve impulses: insignificant electrochemical signals that our body produces constantly in large quantities. As we know that discomfort does not harm us puts it into the category of trivial nerve impulses. This diminishes its importance in our mind, causing fear and resistance to vanish.
This approach made several tasks much easier to perform consistently.
- Taking a cold shower: Originally, I would wait 2–3 minutes trying to overcome the resistance of getting into a cold shower. The reductionist view of the effect of cold water on skin being mere nerve impulses has removed my hesitation entirely.
- Writing daily: A reductionist view about exhaustion, has made it much easier for me to consistently write for 30 minutes every night despite being mentally drained by the end of a work day.
- Doing chores: A reductionist view of boredom has eliminated procrastinating chores. Now, I pick the next task from my to-do list, which does create a bout of boredom, but then I switch to a reductionist view and able to just get started with it.
Final thoughts
Non-threatening resistance keeps us from moving forward and realizing our full potential. The perspectives on pain represent the extremes of a spectrum. We can use a combination of these approaches in proportions that work best for us to keep moving forward.
References
[1] Gleeson, B. (2020). Embrace the Suck: The Navy SEAL Way to an Extraordinary Life (1st ed.). Hachette Book Group.
[2] https://www.nsw.navy.mil/NSW/SEAL-Ethos/
If you found this article helpful, kindly click the “Follow” button. It is a simple action that carries no obligation, motivates me to create more useful content, and in the short term, helps me reach 100 followers. Your support is genuinely appreciated.
