5 ways you can turn emotional pain positively

Life dishes up so many hardships from heartbreak, illness, injury, death and even abandonment which all hurt and cause pain. Though we may share similar experiences, every hurt is personal.

No matter how many times people tell you that they understand, truth is, they don’t.

However you may want to argue it out, emotional pain is actually more challenging than physical pain. Not to downplay the seriousness of physical pain which is just as significant.

When deeply in pain emotionally, avoidance actually increases the pain

Honor your pain, don’t run from it. Take some time to recover and have patience while at it.

No matter how difficult it may be to channel that pain elsewhere, here are some ways you change that into something positive.

Pain makes you grow

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Dwelling on the past and asking yourself why this or that happened to you is pointless because you can't change it. Remember that things just don’t happen. Take it as a lesson and learn from it. In all truth, without pain you will appreciate pleasure.

Pain brings clarity

Emotional pain can fog your mind making it hard to think straight. It can also force you to take stock of your life and priorities. This brings clarity on things that are more important in your life and how well you need to use your time and resources on things that matter most. Be it your family, work or health.

Pain can change how you look at things

Pain has a way of changing our trajectory motivating us to look outward rather than just inward. Paralyzing pain makes us to remain self-focused as we deal with it and as we go through that, it can help us see what needs to be worked on. This especially applies to relational pain. If you realize you keep falling for the same wrong type of people, it could've a good idea to check yourself inwardly. The problem could have originated from a dysfunctional or broken family. Find out and work on it!

 Pain can be a motivating factor

Believe it or not, pain is the best motivator. It challenges you to make changes and progress whether you like it or not. It motivates you to make the necessary changes in your life and even your relationships. How would we know what is right for us without feeling pain? Pain is an indicator that something in your life is wrong, and change is necessary.

It moves you forward

Whether you like it or not, you will have to move forward at some time. How long that will take depends on every individual. Pain makes you want to move forward faster. Just like when you're unhappy, you try to look for ways to remove that feeling and get out of that pain. Same thing applies. Emotional pain can help you make the necessary changes and progress.