Business Survival Series – Part One: Pain as a Teacher

PAIN AS A TEACHER

Several years ago, I attended the funeral of an infant daughter of a precious young couple who attended our church. At the graveside service, her young mother gave a brief speech. She said that when she attended college, a teacher pointed out four young coeds – she being one of the four – and said, “Statistically, two of you will suffer through a divorce, one of you will lose a child, and one of you will struggle with cancer.” (the teacher herself was dying of ovarian cancer at the time) And then the teacher warned, “You had better understand now that no one goes through life untouched by pain or tragedy. Prepare now so that you can be one of life’s survivors, not one of its victims.”

Surviving life is the ultimate challenge for us. We have survived countless, painful tragedies. Many of you reading this have suffered a storm or two in life and have felt pains that were most uncomfortable.

We have many goals for which we’re striving. But occasionally, we must be reminded that the journey of our lives is not merely the reaching of a goal, but the striving for it! We become the kind of person more worthy of our dreams while we strive to attain them. It’s not the reaching of a destination, but the journey itself that makes up this thing we call “life.” And one of our greatest instructors on these journeys is also one of our most dreaded invaders: PAIN.

Pain is a gift. Without pain, we would not know any one of hundreds of dangerous and deadly actions that through pain or the dread of it we now have learned to avoid.
Pain is a great teacher, however, it is not a kind teacher with a sweet and loving personality. And so, we fight pain, resisting the beautiful lessons that pain is trying to teach us. Pain is often the teacher screaming in my ears so loudly I just want the pain to go away. Pain doesn’t teach in beautiful words that please our ears…it screams and terrorizes us and we must fight just to listen to it.
Pain cannot help that it is so unattractive and unwanted; it is only trying to preserve our lives by teaching us. But the pain was so sharp and piercing, that we quickly learned to greatly dislike pain.
And as we get older, the pain becomes greater. Yet, again, pain is trying to teach us, if we are willing to calm down and listen to what it is saying.

If pain has entered your life, try to follow this advice:

1. Can I calm my breathing and my panic to begin thinking and not reacting?
2. Can I engage my brain as well as my heart to work as a team to help me in my pain?
3. Am I more interested in removing the pain or listening to what it is trying to teach me?
4. Do I understand that it is not the pain that will destroy me, but what is causing the pain might?
5. Do I understand that if I do not panic, I guarantee myself a better chance of successfully surviving this pain?
6. Can I commit to surviving rather than giving up hope and resigning myself to becoming another victim?
7. If the survivor mentality is really “mental,” can I begin to get my mind thinking on ways out of my pain rather than only thinking of my pain?

We all pretend to want pain-free lives, comfortable life-styles, and totally safe environments. I think those descriptions could be used to advertise a cemetery! In actuality, many of you entrepreneurs want to take risks, live on the edge of danger and thrill, and celebrate uproariously when you beat the odds and don’t wind up in the hospital or the morgue. Part of the “life” in living is experiencing the “aliveness” that pushing the limits affords. Downhill skiing, motorcycle racing, 4-wheeling in the boonies, mountain climbing, starting a business – all of these and many more define those of us who find their identity in the risks they are willing to take to “feel alive.”