“The ability to learn is a gift, but sometimes pain is our teacher.” -Inky Johnson
We can learn lessons from the words of others, but I believe our greatest teaching moments come from personal experience. The words someone can say are only a fraction of what you learn by failing on your own. We want to learn simply. We want to learn by reading a book, listening to a podcast, or going to class. Most people don’t wake up in the morning thinking that they want to experience pain, but sometimes pain is our best teacher.
Pain hits you deep. Pain shows no sympathy. Pain is real. Words can be fluffed to serve an agenda. Pain’s only agenda is to make you hurt.
Today, society tells us to try and avoid pain at all costs. Society tells us to be comfortable and do everything the right way.
Don’t be afraid to feel pain. When you aren’t willing to experience pain, you won’t experience life. You will live when you are truly vulnerable and unafraid to hurt. Pain will teach you lessons that you can’t learn from someone else. Heartbreak teaches you how to handle a relationship. Stress fractures or surgeries give you an identity check. Failing a class shows you that you need to spend a little more time studying.
You don’t know how these really feel until you experience them on your own. You can’t learn them from a book. I bet that some of your best lessons came from times where you went through so much pain that you couldn’t help but change the way you look at the world. Pain makes us who we are. Why are we afraid of becoming who we are? Why are we afraid to learn from one of the best teachers? It’s going to be uncomfortable. It’s going to suck at times, but who wants a life that is easy?
We are all students and pain is one of our teachers. Maybe you are going through pain right now. You aren’t alone. This is making you into someone new, don’t be afraid.
You will always be a learner, but some lessons come from unexpected teachers. Don’t be afraid to learn because you may miss out on some of the best lessons.
I appreciate you.
-JP