“There’s a difference between discomfort and pain,” the overly perky virtual instructor on my screen chirped at me as I sweatily held a simple yet uncomfortable isometric position for what felt like four solid hours (but was likely less than forty seconds).
This wasn’t the first time I had heard this phrase. I had heard it repeated at the same time in the same way while I was holding the same position at least once per week over the past couple of months.
Discomfort, for me, is a spiritual practice.
I’m an avid HOTWORX user. Part of why I go is for the quiet, dark, daily sweat that helps purge my spirit of yesterday’s stress while recalibrating me to be prepared for today’s challenges.
HOTWORX is an infrared sauna studio. It’s not worth getting into the details of how it works here. I’m certainly not here to sell you on it.
If you like to sweat, you can look that up on your own. If you don’t, don’t worry about it.
The only thing you need to know for our purposes is:
- They insist upon the full capitalization of their name. That wasn’t a stylistic choice by yours truly. It encapsulates the overly-peppy general vibe of the studio culture (which, I’ll remind you, I’m obsessed with). And…
- The classes themselves are pre-recorded sessions that play on repeat, back-to-back in individual saunas. They’re periodically updated. But you’ll basically see and hear the same class for several months.
Hence why I had heard this phrase over and over again. I’d seen this video over and over again.
For some reason — likely because I had remembered my pre-workout drink for once and actually had functioning brainpower during the session — it really resonated with me one particular morning.
This idea is applicable to so much more than exercise.
I got to thinking about how that distinction is true with any sort of growth.
We spend so much time thinking discomfort and pain are the same things. And the difference between them may be subtle. But it’s incredibly important.
Discomfort means you’re pushing yourself. It’s an advance level. A foreign location. A new skill acquisition. A novel experience. An awkward attempt friendship. A difficult conversation that requires emotional fortitude and personal confidence.
It activates our brains, our bodies, and our spirits.
Discomfort is risky. But it’s also rewarding.
It means we might fail. It means we’re expending energy. We’re trying something new. We don’t yet have a blueprint in our minds or bodies to know if we can even do this uncomfortable thing.
If we’re being honest, discomfort can also be exhilarating.
I’m a professional speaker. I get on stage in front of thousands of people every year talking about tough topics in digestible, even playful ways.
Getting up on stage and getting started can be uncomfortable. Even with all the polish and the practice. I have to push myself. Breathe through the nerves. Remind myself there’s a joy on the other side of it.
And I have to be willing, time and time again, to throw myself into the fire.
Luckily, for me, I’m already accustomed to the heat. (Thanks, HOTWORX.)
Pain is different.
Pain means something broke. It needs healing. It requires rest.
If discomfort is the nerves before the battle and the endurance required to get through, pain is the warrior tending to their wounds afterwards.
When you feel pain, pause is necessary.
There’s a difference between not wanting to hold a funky isometric position because your muscles are complaining versus feeling a genuine, dangerous tweak in your knee, signaling you to stop immediately.
Just like there’s a difference between not wanting to have a tough conversation because you know it’s going be complicated and emotionally charged versus being deeply triggered by an unhealed emotional wound that needs attention before you feel safe to speak up.
Discomfort requires both courage and a sense of safety. Respecting pain requires humility and self awareness. They’re cousins. But different.
Accepting the invitation.
Getting curious about the difference between them is more of an offering, rather than a prescription. Rather than giving a blanket statement to push through no matter what (as so many fitness professionals love to do), the perky instructor was inviting a bit of curiosity.
Are you really feeling pain? Is something wrong? Or are you just pushing beyond your comfort zone?
Ask yourself those questions. And listen to the response. Because there’s a major difference.
When I’m told what to do, I get cranky and rarely listen. When I’m offered a new perspective, I get curious and tune in.
That curiosity works better than any overused, motivational statement.
It even works at 5 am in a dark, sweat-filled sauna with a barely-awake, under slept, overstimulated and emotionally overstretched woman, grumbling to herself while barely balancing in a funky pose.
And if it can work there, it can work anywhere.
