Excellence Is The Capacity To Take Pain
Was scrolling through Instagram when I came across a quote.
And I fell in love,
Effective immediately.
Not a “love” kind of love but an “OMG how inspiring!” kind of love.
Excellence is the capacity to take pain.
How wise!
Excellence is indeed the capacity to take pain. And this contradicts my previous notion of “you should do what you love” or “you should feel good while doing whatever it is that you choose to do”.
It’s different from the “fun-centric” perception that people usually want to have of life.
If you seriously think about it, life should be a perfect balance of everything. Just like, the spices are mixed in the right amount to bring out the best flavor in your favorite food.
You are screwed if your concept of “feeling good” is based on mind-numbing activities. But don’t worry, so am I.
Earlier, I would freak out, think about the future, obsess with current failures, have a panic attack, and then put my earphones on to numb it all down.
But not today. We are not going to get overwhelmed by made-up shit. (not anymore)
There’s this quote that says — we suffer more in imagination than in reality.
So true.
One way to stop suffering in imagination is to not spend a lot of time there.
What we do is indulge in the nonsense that our mind makes up out of irrational fears. When that doesn’t feel good, we numb that pain down through unhealthy coping mechanisms.
And we can keep doing that. But for how long?
Let’s be practical here,
If you consciously endure shit at the right time, everything will be sorted.
But if you don’t, you will still be forced to endure unpleasantries and everything will be a mess instead.
Yes, it’s difficult to look past your level of comfort. But remember that — You are lucky if you have everything and can just chill. You are extremely stupid if you have everything and are still “just chilling”. (self-reminder).
Because excellence is so rewarding. To be good at something. To bring value to the table. If that’s not empowering, I don’t know what else is.