Why Pain Creates Change

Pain is the greatest human motivator. As much as I’d like to think that we change due to the compelling, heart-warming emotions of ecstasy and bliss, the reality is that human beings move when things go to sh**.

Remember touching a hot stove for the first time? I bet nothing was more compelling than feeling the skin peel back on your index finger as the heat of the stove scorched your flesh. No warning signs or cautionary tales could have done what experience did for you on this unfortunate day.


Pain is an indicator of misalignment. The more pain we feel, the more drastic our actions will be to remove it from our lives. We eat ourselves into hospitals knowing that McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is an elixir for disaster, but the pain of finding out we are on the brink of heart failure elicits enough pain to bring about a change.

As Tony Robbins states: “we do things for one of two reasons, to seek pleasure or avoid pain.” In most cases, the need for pleasure is outweighed by the pain in our lives. Pain does not have to be physical, in fact most cases the pain that leads to the greatest change is internal. When we feel the heavy mental burdens of unattended emotions, we are forced to look inward and this inner reflection allows us to find what it is that needs our attention.

Pain is not inherently bad, it is simply a mechanism our bodies use to warn us. Imagine how many limbs we would lose on a daily basis if we could not feel pain, or the ignored, emotional wounds that would go unnoticed until it was too late if pain was out of the equation.


Pain can be an ally and even a temporary friend that is meant to unveil something to you, but just like any guest overstaying their welcome, a consistent pain often becomes an issue.

I am learning to no longer ignore my pain or view it as a  punishment from the ruling powers of this universe. I truly believe this universe works in alignment with us and our duty is to align ourselves with it, otherwise it will use any tool in its abundant arsenal to get us back in line. Pain happens to be one of the most effective of these tools.

Tinashe Hwande

Edited by. Tayla Hasselbach


Don’t Be the “Waiter”

The only thing that comes to a waiter is a tip.

The motivational speaker/guru, Les Brown, once said: “good things come to those who wait, but only the good things that were left behind by the one who hustled.”

We often move through life feeling as if tomorrow will bring us that extra ounce of motivation that we need to move toward our dreams. Most of us feel as if tomorrow has a surplus of energy injected into it, an energy that today we would never dare tap into.

The good news is today has just as much motivation in it as tomorrow does. The bad news is tomorrow has just much motivation as today.

Wishful thinking and aimlessly waiting on tomorrow, “a better day,” to begin that project or start that business will have you in a place Zig Ziglar once called “One Day Isle” which is right next to “Isle Never” in Safeway: as in the safe way to nowhere.


In a nutshell, living for tomorrow is the most dangerous thing that you could ever do for your future self. In waiting for tomorrow to begin, you are literally preparing yourself for a time and place that does not exist. As pseudoscience or woowoo as this sounds, you truly only have this moment. Right here, right now is the only thing that actually exists. All ‘tomorrow’ is is a representation of another “right here, right now.”

Thus, if you wish to see any sort of lasting change in your life, do “it” now, whatever your “it” is. I wasted far too much time and too many “laters” to ever let myself into such a trap again and it truly hurts my heart when I see those around me doing the same. We act as if our time is limitless, as if we will always be able to achieve our greatest self. We will forgo going to the gym for the third night in a row because Shameless just put out their third season and I means it’s not like the gyms going anywhere right? We throw away precious moments in the morning that could be used for mediation or planning and instead dedicate that time to scrolling and liking.

We love to claim that patience is a virtue but what we practice is far from virtuous. The fact of the matter is patience and waiting are not related, in fact they are not even in the same species. Patience is related to the work that takes place during the period of growth, while waiting is a passive act of “do nothingness.”


I am by no means saying there is something wrong with relaxation and unwinding to something that will take your mind off of constantly doing, however when it’s time to do, don’t mistake not doing for doing. 

Preparation is a key element to success in any sphere of life but waiting and preparing are again unrelated. There is a difference between studying an industry before you enter it and waiting for the “right time” to get into an industry. Preparing for a test and thinking about preparing for a test are not the same thing, I could not emphasize this point enough. 

Do not take for granted the time that you have been allocated and the visions that have been placed in you. When you are sparked with an idea, you must act on it as fast as possible because the longer you wait the further it fades.

Tinashe Hwande

(edited by Tayla Hasselbach)