I see it all the time: new student joins the gym, “falls in love” with the arts, and is training nearly every day.

And then, something small happens: an awkward exchange in the gym, a small injury, a small change in schedule, etc.  

And then, poof!  They are gone.

See, you can’t really love something until it hurts you a little.  Because loving is not the act of simply extracting value from something, it’s also the act of investing back into that thing at your own expense – small or great.  There is a balance to love.  

I’d argue that the most rewarding things in life are going to hurt you a little bit.  They are going to ask things of you that will be difficult to part with, they are going to gnaw at your mind as you are trying to sleep, they are going to require of you energy and time that you’d rather spend elsewhere.

So let it hurt a little bit.  If it’s important to you, nourish it at your own expense (beacuse nobody is going to feed it for you).  Growth is demanding.  It hungers for everything you can possibly give it, and then some.  It’s never satisfied.  And that’s why some people can grow so much so quickly – because they are willing to give more than everyone else.

I’m not saying you should lose yourself in your training, but rather that the balance here is found in both things we enjoy as well as things we don’t.  

There will absolutely be days that are demoralizing.  Days that hurt.  Days that felt like a waste.  

But these days exist to highlight the other days.  Days where you break through.  Days where you are a shining light to someone else.  Days where everything just happens to click.

Don’t shy away from a little sting here and there.  Let it hurt a little bit.  That’s how you know it’s working.