Embrace The Hurt

I have a very bad habit. I don’t usually warm up before I work out. As a result I strain my muscles more than necessary. I’m usually a little sore, after working out. However, my lack of proper warm up causes my muscles to stay tight, which causes my back and shoulders to hurt.

I had a massage yesterday. Not a relaxing, spa massage. A real, recovery massage. All of my muscles got unknotted, and my back put into alignment. And it was not comfortable. It actually hurt. I even cried during part of it. And last night I was really sore.

Then why, you might be asking, would you even subject your self to that? Because sometimes, without the hurt, healing can’t happen.

My massage didn’t feel good in the moment, but my range of motion was better, my nagging lower back and shoulder pain was gone, and my muscles were looser than they have been in a really long time. All the tension and stress I was carrying dissolved.

I think we often live with the discomfort, the dull ache, and the pain. We normalize it and tell ourselves that’s just the way it is. We walk around just dealing with it. Just dealing with it is far less painful than really dealing with it. Really dealing with it can require a level of hurt that we don’t want to experience in the moment, but it’s what is necessary to bring healing.

Don’t carry the pain anymore. Don’t run from the necessary hurt that will fix it. Embrace it. That might mean going and getting a recovery massage, or talking to a therapist, or resolving that you are going to sit with the pain and face it head on. It might hurt for a minute, but the long term effect is healing and freedom for your body, your mind, and your soul.