What If Your Discomfort Was Pointing The Way Forward?

Thought For The Week

Suffering feels painful, isolating and unfair; it’s an interruption to the life we’ve chosen, or that we’re trying to build. But suffering is an inevitable part of being human, and while it's never something we’d choose, it can hold meaning if we're willing to look for it. Hard experiences force us to slow down, pay attention, and confront things we might otherwise avoid. They challenge our assumptions, reveal what really matters, and often spark a kind of growth that staying put never could.

Exercise Tip

Here’s a thought: Lifting weights causes tiny tears to the muscle fibres, which, with adequate rest and the right nutrition, enables them to recover, adapt, and get stronger. Just like our minds then, our bodies need to endure a little suffering too, if we want them to become stronger, fitter and faster. By definition, a stimulus must always be something challenging or uncomfortable – something that causes us to suffer a bit – otherwise there’s nothing to initiate growth.

Try this: You can wait for life to dictate when the s*** gets thrown, or we can choose to actively pursue our own challenges. Choosing exercise – whether that’s running a marathon or working a hard gym session – requires us to confront insecurities and dig deep; it teaches us about managing discomfort and overcoming adversity. These are transferable skills, so you’ll be well placed to deal with unforeseen hardships when life throws a curveball elsewhere.

Nutrition Tip

We rarely start thinking about our diet and eating behaviours because everything’s going smoothly. Usually, it’s a discomfort that gets our attention – whether that’s fatigue, bloating, brain fog, cravings, or emotional eating. Recognising these discomforts as a kind of suffering can help us to pause and look inward. It’s the body saying, “Hey, something needs to change.” So, instead of fighting it or trying to numb it, I’m encouraging you to listen: That mid-afternoon crash? It might be a sign that you’re not fuelling yourself adequately earlier in the day; That sugar craving at 8pm? It could be more emotional than physical; That post-meal heaviness? It could be a sign your digestive system needs a little extra support. Nutrition isn’t just about counting calories, calculating macros or cutting carbs, it’s about building a relationship with your body where you can recognise cues and patterns and respond with deliberate care.

Try this: When something feels off, don’t push through it and don’t try and numb it. Instead ask yourself, “What’s my body trying to tell me?”

Links & Resources

Book: Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search For Meaning, offers us a way to understand and transcend suffering and find significance in living.

Recipe: Try my gut-loving green smoothie, which is packed full of fibre, good fats, and a gentle blend of nutrients to calm the gut and support steady energy release.

Recipe: For a healthy, tasty, good for your gut pick-me-up when you’re in need of an energy boost, try my recipe for fig and chocolate orange energy bites.

Inspirational Quote

"In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning."

Viktor Frankl