Meaningful Pain: 3 Quick Tools To Help You Stay On Track When Things Get Hard

20.09.20 05:47 PM By Heather Kleinschmidt


Why go through pain, ever?


Exhaustion. Tension. Embarrassment. Uncertainty. Struggle.


Why do any of it?


We each have our own reasons, but ultimately, we go through pain because we believe it’s worth it.

*****


Just because it’s worth it, though, doesn’t mean it’s not hard.


Below are three quick challenges that can help you refocus on your most important struggles and stay on track when things get hard…



1
In everything, we need something we’re looking ahead to. We engage with all of the struggle — frustration — grind — because it’s pointing toward something.


Question to ask yourself: What does all of my effort point toward?
What — at the end of it all — do I want to be able to say about who I am and how I lived?



2
We also need to be ready to meet everything along the road with laughter. This is how we own our own experience.


Because if we leave our joy in the hands of our current situation, we’ll never do anything hard — no matter how worthwhile it is. Or, best-case scenario, we’ll do the hard things, but we’ll be miserable along the way.


Try it: Right now, smile and laugh 🙃



3
The right tools can be the difference between making it to Mordor and destroying the Ring or falling down on any number of stumbling blocks in the journey (pardon the Lord of the Rings reference…)


Some of the best gifts you can give yourself in your meaningful pursuit are:

  • (the right) community
  • a set of brain-clearing habits (what activities help you see things more clearly? do you prioritize the habit[s] in your schedule?)
  • visual encouragement (visual metrics, visual inspiration, or visual vision boards)


Question to ask yourself: Is there a tool I’m lacking that would benefit me right now? Where can I go or what can I do to try to get it?

*****


I hope your week has gone well — and if it hasn’t, I hope that the struggle is worth it and that you’ve found moments of joy anyway.



Each week, I do a deep-dive into the question of living meaningfully.

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