Selfalot

Daily Quote: “The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.” Dale Carnegie

These are the thoughts of a world class athlete competing at the highest level. This is especially true for endurance races such as the Tour de France where the pain threshold of every competitor is tested every day over 23 days.

Every day the cyclists pick themselves up again and start the painful journey again for the day. Their focus is on the fact that the pain will be short lived but the victory if they win will be for ever.

This same principle is what keeps other people going. Nelson Mandela sat in a horrific prison on an island for 27 years. Yet he ended up becoming president of his country and a highly respected world statesman. The pain in prison was then, but his efforts in prison and immediately after to broker a peaceful transition earned him world recognition that will be written in the history books.

Many scientists work long hours for long years to achieve recognition in their field. But once that recognition arrives they have it for ever. Unless of course their findings were wrong then it can all disappear in a flash again. That is a risk they take.

In most lives the pain is not as high and the sacrifices not that enormous as for instance 27 years in a tiny prison cell on an island off Cape Town. But any achievement you wish to attain will bring some small amount of pain with it.

You might just have the pain of evening classes for a few years to enhance your career chances. Once you have worked through that pain of having to spend so many hours in the evenings attending class and studying you will find that your rewards for your career are for many years.

As another example you might wish to extend your home and have to do the work yourself because you lack the funds to employ an external contractor. You have many months even years of physical pain and hardship to complete the construction. Once it’s finished though you have this new home for a long time.

What times have you had pain in your life that has resulted in something wonderful to keep? Maybe you had a baby and the birth was very painful, perhaps you had learning difficulties and found your studies to be difficult but highly rewarding at the end?

Whatever you worked hard at and that caused you great pain, you will find that the rewards at the end of the day would be with you for a lot longer than the memory of the pain.

Sometimes the instances of pain are physical. This would be for athletes who train hard and have to put up with injuries and stressful training periods. It could be the pain of studying hard and for many years to obtain a qualification.

There are many ways you could find your life offering you painful times in return for successes that enrich your life for years after. Short term hardships and pain may result in achievement enjoyed over the long term. It will be worth it.