Pain Is Inevitable, Suffering Is Optional

Upon reading Haruki Murakami's books, I have found many quotes which I can relate to in life. A few days ago, I stumbled upon a quote in one of his books, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". It said:

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.” 

This hits me home hard. "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional", I repeat to myself. 

The physical feeling is there, but sometimes we tend to hold on to the emotions, which we unconsciously make it worse. And still, it's our choice, whether or not to tell ourselves that we are fine.

I have probably fell a couple of times in life, and that's just unavoidable, because these downfalls are the only times we can learn. Just like what Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred, said to him, "Why do we fall? So that we can pick ourselves up." One day, there will come a time where we fall too hard, and we will probably think it's the end of us, but the truth is that we need to hold on, and endure it. We can't just give up so soon.

So I'll tell myself that I can endure this pain, and it will probably subside soon. Because there's no use clinging onto this unnecessary sufferings that hold us back from feeling alive.

Note to self: Things will probably get better, in time.