Hi everyone!

It’s day 2! I was already feeling anxious when I saw how time had gone, and I was running late on the post. But hey, better late than never I guess. Let’s do this! 😉

Today’s Challenge: the best teachers

For me, I’d pick Pain and Aloneless (note I didn’t say loneliness 😏). I believe these two are the best teachers.

Pain has a way of teaching you feelings you never knew existed. It helps you find strength you never thought you could find within you. It opens your eyes to what really matters. And it helps you to be more compassionate about what others are going through. Pain doesn’t respect race, age, political affiliations, etc. It binds us together, and helps us connect with our humanity.

Pain also humbles us, it reminds us of our frailty. It strengthens us and builds character . Also, the more we are exposed to pain, whether in the form of mental pain, emotional pain, or physical pain, the more we get to appreciate pleasant emotions such as happiness, love, hope, kindness etc.

Pain helps enrich our positive experiences. If we have the capacity to feel pain, we equally have the capacity to feel joy. It’s sorta a Ying-Yang experience. For instance, we don’t even pay too much attention to the health of our teeth until we experience toothaches that give us sleepless nights. You may not realize how important your ‘happy days’ were until you experience consecutive sad days.

When thinking of pain as a teacher, I thought of Job in the Bible. He sure went through a lot of pain! David also went through pain. But therein also lies some really deep thoughts and lessons when you read the Psalms or the book of Job.

Aloneness on the other hand teaches you who your true friends are. Who your companions on the journey of life really are. I just thought about how everytime Jesus will withdraw to stay alone, we would see how Peter, James and John will be the three always finding him. Truth is, if you were to log off social media, and disappear from your daily status updates, you will see those who will search for you till they find you. Aloneness helps clarify if people are only after what you can give them—the fame, attention or even money— or if they are really after knowing the real you.

I know some of us confuse loneliness with aloneness, here’s a quick summary from Pragito Dove in an article on Huffpost: “Loneliness is a lack, a feeling that something is missing, a pain, a depression, a need, an incompleteness, an absence.

Aloneness is presence, fullness, aliveness, joy of being, overflowing love. You are complete. Nobody is needed, you are enough.”

That just sums it up! While Pain teaches you to connect with others and be more empathetic, being alone teaches you that you’re enough and you can focus on what really matters.

Just gonna share two quotes I found interesting on the subject. Let’s hear your thoughts!

Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. -C.S. Lewis

See you Tomorrow!

Love,

M.❤️