Good Pain or Bad Pain?

You know how sometimes when you exercise, it hurts?

Sometimes it’s the good hurt, like when you’re working at your edge and muscles are tearing or whatever it is that muscles do. I wouldn’t know because I’m a recovering floating brain who is learning how to appreciate having a body instead of being like, “Gahhhhh, why do you have these needs, meat suit?! Can’t you see I’m trying to read a book???”

But other times it’s a bad hurt, like when your form isn’t right and you’re risking injury.

I had that the other day. I was at Pilates and something was off. Instead of feeling the exercise in my inner thighs, the area I was targeting, I felt it in my knees.

So I told my instructor. I stopped mid-set and said, “Something’s not right here.”

Then she gave me an alternative. She used her vast and preponderous knowledge base to break down what was going wrong, understand what needed to be adapted and then fix the problem.

After that, I felt the exercise in my inner thighs, like I was meant to. Injury prevented, effectiveness increased.

I’m thinking about this today because I woke up feeling stressed this morning. My mind was spinning. I was ruminating a bit. And there was heaviness in my chest.

This sensation–it’s unusual for me. I’m a human who prioritizes inner peace above basically everything else, so I don’t often wake up feeling stressed. I wake up feeling peaceful.

Sometimes, like on Monday, I wake up with the good kind of stress, like the good kind of exercise pain. I was giving two presentations and I had “I want to do this well” stress flowing through my system.

But this morning? It wasn’t the good kind. It was like when I was feeling my Pilates exercise in my knees instead of my inner thighs.

And I know why. I know where the stress came from. I know the exact situation that caused it.

What I don’t know is how to fix the situation.

Because, unlike in my Pilates class, it’s not as easy as just saying, “Something’s not right here.” I don’t have an instructor with a vast and preponderous knowledge base to break down what’s going wrong, understand what needs to be adapted, then fix the problem.

I want one. I have one of the best Pilates instructors in the world (in my obviously unbiased opinion) and I would love to have someone who is world-class at institutional psychology to help with this other problem.

And, typing that, I realized I do have someone who matches that description available to help. So I’m going to wrap up writing and reach out to him.

Aren’t the gifts of writing so fun? I sat down at my keyboard, seeking insight into something that was disturbing my inner peace. Then, without knowing where the essay would go, my fingers typed out a sentence that made me go, “Wait a second…”

Thanks, Universe.

How about you? Do the stressors in your life currently fall into the “good pain, helping you grow” bucket? Or the “bad pain, risking injury” bucket? I’d love to hear.

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