Need a higher threshold for pain? Remind yourself that pain is evil (or weakness) leaving the body. And never complain. Complaints are victim thinking... attracting weakness.
My chronic back pain has returned. At age 47, I'm unable to sit comfortably for any length of time.
The return of the chronic back pain (which mostly subsided for nearly 10 years) seems to accompany periods of higher stress. I feel overworked most of the time, unable to keep up with the obligations, and generally feel a sense of despair for the world at large.
My wife and I seem to often ask 'what's the point.' The era we in certainly feels like we are collectively have hit a new low with a president most us are embarrassed by, mass shootings which seem to have become a weekly daily occurrence, and the disregard for the planet, creating extreme weather putting additional pressure on a system that already feels overextended.
The divide between the rich and the poor only grows wider every year. Perhaps the biggest ache I feel is when I see those who have so much have so little compassion for those who have so little. They seem to feel that they are entitled to the wealth they have accumulated because they worked hard for it, and that those who don't have it didn't work as hard. They have the belief that we all get what we deserve. So if someone has less, then they must deserve less. It's the sense that a person's importance in the world is defined by their wealth. This makes the penalty of poverty not only the inability to live well, but carries a stigmatism that they don't matter as much.
This unfolds as I feel middle class has come to a fork in the road - a smaller portion of the group is heading to fat city, while the other heading to grunge town. Fat city includes freedom to travel around the world, retirement, and richer experiences. Grunge town is a life sentence of daily grind, mediocre meals, and vacations limited to weekend getaways. I feel as if we are stuck on the track to grunge town. Each month is a struggle to earn as much as the month before, and the cost of living only continues to rise. In this model, as a society, there is a constant pressure to earn more each year just to keep up. I sometimes feel as if my wife has an insatiable appetite for the finer things in life (vacations, shopping, and fine dining) that I can't provide. Whether or not it's true, I feel like a failure because she can't have everything she wants.
My inability to earn what our friends earn makes me feel inferior. I tell my wife, I was not such a good investment after all.