There’s a difference between pain and discomfort.
Pain and discomfort are not synonyms, but too many people live their lives as if they are. Pain is sharp, searing unmistakable. You recoil from pain without thinking—touch the hot stove, prick the skin with a thorn, sprain your ankle. Pain is very real and you want to avoid it. There’s no mistaking it. It’s a powerful, resolute, clear message from your body that you should stop doing whatever you’re doing that’s causing the pain.
Discomfort is different. Pain tells you what you shouldn’t be doing. Discomfort tells you what you should be doing. If something isn’t comfortable, it means you have a weak spot that you need to work on. It indicates room for improvement.
Avoiding discomfort often leads to pain. The pain of regret, and if you’re talking about the physical discomfort of grueling exercise, physical pain. The guy who never feels any discomfort in his life, never does anything difficult, never pushes his body in the gym, avoids all extreme temperatures and experiences—he’s not going to live a good life. He will suffer the pain of a life too easily lived. Guaranteed. Seen it time and time again.
The reverse is true, too, of course. As an endurance athlete, I managed discomfort for a living. Training was miserable. Racing was miserable, until the end, especially if you won. Then it was euphoric. If I wanted to succeed, I had to handle and manage the discomfort. Eventually it got the better of me. So unrelenting discomfort isn’t good, either.
Pain and discomfort are governed by different mechanisms in the body. Different chemicals and compounds. So pain and discomfort are not only different by degree. They are also different materially and qualitatively.
It’s a balancing act. Pain is unavoidable—it’ll happen no matter what we do—but you want to avoid it just the same. And when you feel it, pull back. Discomfort is avoidable in that you can keep putting it off and take the easy route, but you need to embrace it because it’s how we grow. Just not too much, or else the discomfort will progress to pain and start doing real damage.
You’re constantly threading that needle.
Experience discomfort every day. Not too much, and avoid pain.
