Don’t numb it. Name it. “Right now, I feel rejected.” “This workout hurts my lungs.” “I am scared of looking stupid.” Walk the factory floor and take inventory. Pain unnamed is pain multiplied.
Don’t call maintenance to shut it down. Put on your work boots. Walk inside. Grab the raw material of right now—the frustration, the ache, the fear—and ask yourself: pain factory
Ask:
Not “Why is this happening to me?” (That question keeps you on the loading dock, complaining about the shipment.) Don’t numb it
Pain isn’t useful until it leaves the factory. You have to do something with it. Write the difficult email. Do the extra rep. Have the hard conversation. Apologize first. That’s your finished good. Pain unnamed is pain multiplied
We spend most of our lives trying to shut the factory down.
Because the factory is running either way. You might as well produce something that matters.