If there’s one thing body art has taught me, it’s this: “Pain is just an illusion.” Now before you come for me, hear me out. I know pain is real. I’ve sat through a couple of tattoo sessions, willingly paid someone to prick my skin with a needle and somehow, I’m still considering getting more.

I mean, I like what I like. We read, we don’t judge over here. lol 

But there’s something interesting about the whole experience. You know a tattoo will hurt before you get one but the extent to which it’ll hurt? You have no idea. You’ve probably heard people’s stories, watched a couple of videos to prep your mind and wondered how you’d cope when it’s finally your turn. Then you sit in that chair, the needle touches your skin and then you begin to realize that just maybe, you can handle more than you thought. 

Does it hurt? Definitely yes.

Is it unbearable? Not necessarily.

And that got me thinking about life. The number of things we’ve talked ourselves out of simply because we’re afraid of how they might feel or what the outcome may be.

You know sometimes, we spend so much time imagining the worst possible outcome that we never give ourselves the chance to discover what we’re capable of handling and the fear of the unknown is enough to keep us exactly where we are. We convince ourselves that failure will destroy us, rejection will break us and starting over isn’t even an option and conclude we aren’t capable of handling it.

But what if we can?

Think about it. How many times have you worried yourself sick over something, only to get through it and wonder why you were so afraid in the first place? 

Exactly! 

Not all pain is an illusion. Physical pain is real, emotional pain can be overwhelming and some experiences take time to heal from but there’s a difference between protecting yourself from harm and allowing the fear of discomfort to keep you from living.

Perhaps pain isn’t exactly an illusion. Maybe it’s the power we sometimes give it that needs questioning. 

The real question isn’t whether something will hurt but whether we’re willing to let the possibility of pain decide what we get to experience. So, I’m learning to stop assuming I can’t handle something simply because it might hurt. 

And yes, I might just get another tattoo cos ink therapy is my kind of therapy and some lessons are better learnt with a little needle action. lol