Run Away Husband
I love to run with my wife.
I don’t necessarily love running, but running with her makes it a joy. Running brings us closer together.
I find this incredibly interesting because running is…well…painful! Some days are more challenging than others, but if you’re going to run with my wife, than you should expect to run to a point of experiencing at least a little pain.
We connect and grow through pain. There is no greater experience than going through a difficult challenge and coming out alive at the other end; stronger for having finished, and finished together. In times of high stress, when you are dedicated to the task at hand, you force yourself to bring issues into the light and into proper perspective. Communication becomes clearer. Strengths are fed. Weaknesses are trumped. You cut out what’s not crucial, and you focus on the core. If you want to grow as a sports team, go through a tough loss. If you want to grow your business, push it to get better during a recession. If you want to build a stronger friendship, sacrifice some time. If you want to grow a marriage, run hard together.
If we’re focused, pain can actually bring us together. A lot of us live in fear of pain. We don’t like making painful decisions, we don’t like activity that causes us physical pain, we don’t even like to think about pain. We like comfort. We like the feeling of apathy. That’s fine, but don’t expect to grow. We can live in comfort and ease, but we can’t simultaneously get better.
Many times, pain can be a fast-track towards success, or pain can cause total breakdown and disengagement. How do you respond to pain? How does it influence your decision making? Do you sharpen with pain or slump? Use pain in the face of challenge as a tool to take you where you want to go, faster. Don’t forget to breath.
