Leadership in Action – AUNZ English – 201901

Pain Is OK

A MESSAGE FROM CEO FRANK VANDERSLOOT

We all know someone (perhaps it is ourselves) who would like to get from point A to point B but never gets there because between point A and point B there is potential pain. By pain, I mean swallowing one’s pride (that’s painful!), or risking rejection (that’s painful!), or giving up bad habits, risking failure, admitting we are wrong, saying we’re sorry, risking embarrassment, forcing ourselves to be diligent and disciplined, facing ourselves, repenting from wrongdoing, asking directions, getting back up when we fall down, or trying again and again (all painful!). We all tend to avoid pain—even when we know that it might be for our own good. We all have known someone who has physical symptoms that might indicate a serious physical problem, but who refuses to see a doctor for fear of what they might learn. Ridiculous!?! You bet! Avoidance of pain was given to all species of living creatures so that they would survive. To be eaten alive or even bitten by a predator would be extremely painful, so most animals will try to avoid the experience. When a deer flees a pursuing mountain lion it is not the loss of blood the animal fears, should the mountain lion catch it. It is the fear of pain that stimulates

adrenaline and induces flight. If a species could not feel pain, they would not try to avoid it and the results would be disastrous for the entire species. Avoidance of pain is a survival mechanism; without it we would not live very long. But sometimes it backfires on us! Besides physical pain man can feel emotional pain, and we tend to avoid emotional pain to the same degree as we do physical pain. Unfortunately, there are a ton of

the weekend. A huge boulder weighing close to 1,000 pounds fell on his arm and held him trapped for five days. After three days of being stuck and after having run out of water and after having eaten the last few crumbs in a candy bar wrapper, he decided to amputate his right arm. But he made little progress. He started sawing back and forth with his pocketknife to no avail. The knife was so dull that he could not even cut the hair on his arm,

“As you look at what goals you have in life and where you want to get to compared with where you are today, I would invite you to ask yourself what is preventing you from going there?”

potentially beneficial things that can cause us emotional pain, and that is where it gets tricky! Sometimes going through pain will not cause our destruction at all, but may be essential for our survival. Take, for instance, Aron Ralston from Colorado. We all watched the news with astonishment several years ago as his story unfolded. He had gone hiking in a remote canyon in Utah for

let alone cut through the bones in his arm. Two days later he realised he had to do something while he was still coherent. “It was the last opportunity I would have and still have the physical strength to get out,” he said. “It occurred to me I could break my bones.” First the radius snapped just above his wrist. He kept twisting his arm and a few minutes later the ulna

2 JANUARY 2019 | MELALEUCA.COM

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