Day 194: On Pain and Quitting
Day 194: On Pain and Abandonment
Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.
The pain is temporary. Renunciation is eternal.
—Lance Armstrong
Pain, particularly during strenuous exercise, is often so overpowering that you can barely think straight. However, it’s through this pain that we grow, and it’s a necessary part of the process, just like embracing discomfort in general is essential for rejecting instant gratification in order to accomplish your long-term goals.
Pain, especially during strenuous exercise, is often unbearable and almost impossible to think.
However, it is in this pain that we grow up with, and it is a necessary part of growing up, just as embracing discomfort is essential to refusing to rush to achieve long-term goals.
Whenever you feel tempted to give up because of momentary pain, do your best to remind yourself that pain passes, but the disappointment you’ll feel upon quitting will accompany you for a long time. Giving up will give you some relief right now, but the price you’ll have to pay will be ultimately more painful than bearing the pain a little while longer.
Whenever you feel like giving up because of momentary pain, try to remind yourself that the pain will pass, but the disappointment after giving up will stay with you for a long time.
Giving up will give you some relief now, but the price you have to pay will end up being more painful than enduring pain for a while longer.
If you think that there’s no way you can handle the pain — something that will probably happen to you during the first several weeks of exercising, for example — tell yourself to only bear it for three seconds longer and then give up. Often, pain is a fleeting high-intensity burst at the moment you first feel it, and then it quickly recedes as your body adapts to it — something I experienced in numerous workouts, as well as when I took cold showers. Waiting for three seconds before you give up can be enough time to enable you to withstand the pain and keep going .
If you think you can't handle the pain.
For example, in the first few weeks of exercise, you may encounter this situation – telling yourself that you can only endure it for three more seconds and then give up.
More often than not, the pain is a short, high-intensity burst at the moment you first feel it, and then it quickly subsides as your body adjusts to it – something I've experienced countless times during my workouts and cold baths.
Waiting another three seconds before you give up is enough time for you to withstand the pain and keep going.
As a quick disclaimer, please don’t mistake the kind of pain that’s safe, signaling you’re pushing yourself, with the kind of pain that’s the signal of an injury. Whenever you are pushing your limits, always prioritize safety over everything else.
As a brief disclaimer, don't confuse the kind of pain that is safe and indicates that you are challenging yourself with the kind of pain that indicates injury.
Whenever you're pushing your limits, make sure safety comes first.