13 Paisley Street, Guelph, ON, N1H 2N5
The Science Behind "Embracing the Suck" - How Navy SEALs Leverage Pain
Click the link above to read the full article. The article was published on September 19, 2022.
The author is Rich Diviney. As per Rich's bio, he draws upon 20+ years of experience as a Navy SEAL Officer. He is also the author of a great book that CJ has read, The Attributes. Check it out here on Amazon, The Attributes.
Embracing the suck. We have all been there - looking at a reward at the top of the hill as we work to achieve it. But what if we didn't have to delay the reward until the end. What is that reward feeling? Rich tells us it all starts with your dopamine.
Dopamine is the molecule primarily responsible for the feeling of reward.
Most people don’t know about baseline dopamine, so they focus on getting the big spikes. They try to motivate themselves by thinking about the end. Sometimes they even talk about how everything sucks right now, but it will be worth it later. But this is a mistake.
So when you tell yourself everything sucks - or put off your enjoyment until a later point in time, you are telling your dopamine system there’s nothing rewarding about right now.
However, when you find reason to enjoy or appreciate the present effort, you are telling your brain there is already reward right here, right now.
Navy SEALs are usually intense people. His re-telling of how he learned to embrace the suck doesn't disappoint.
When I was in surf torture, everything was agony. But then I had a key realization: the cold water was actually good for my sore muscles! The instant I had this thought, the cold became more bearable. It still sucked, of course. But I found reward in what I was doing, so my brain did, too. It started making more dopamine, which took the edge off. Something about the cold even started to feel a little satisfying. And I felt more like I could get through it.
Whether it’s a fitness goal, professional goal, or just plain need to get through a day, subtle shifts in mindset make an enormous difference.
That simple adjustment to the way we think about things may help increase happiness and accomplish more!
The article linked and mentioned above was published on September 19, 2022 and written by Rich Diviney. Check out Rich's site The Attributes.
.jpg)
.jpg)