Pain Before Potential

As 2022 came to a close, I was building a head of steam and over the moon excited about everything that I was going to launch and share to start the new year. I had a new concept for content I was going to create with regularity to share across my social channels. I had two portfolio companies gearing up for telling their story on the fundraising trail. I had locked in a solid slate of coaching clients for the new year. I was even building out a monthly leadership content series with my church and gearing up for bringing that part of my story into a more public view. A lot was about to happen.

And then I found myself sitting in the emergency room on December 30th, doubled over in pain from what a CatScan would reveal to be two herniated disks in my lower back. The pain from my piriformis down to my right calf was the worst I've ever felt. And while I sat in the ER by myself waiting for some kind of relief, I did whatever it took to distract myself - including, but not limited to:

As I was writing the third speech, I was in the most pain of the day. And to be honest, I really couldn't think about much more than the pain and think about what I'd be willing to do to stop it.

And that got me thinking about something: it is possible that, despite the world having unlimited and unfettered access to all the information in the world and every single opportunity of change being within an shooting distance of anyone in the world, the world has yet to decide to take advantage of all the opportunities and potential that exists. And that the reason why just might be that the pain they are feeling is so much greater than the belief that those potential outcomes are worth their time and effort, they don't pursue them and instead are focused on fighting through the chronic right-now pain. The pain of hunger, the pain of loneliness, the pain of regret, the pain of abuse, the pain of mental disorder, the pain of loss, the pain of grief, the pain of misplaced loyalty. If any level of pain is greater than the level of belief in potential, the pain has to be addressed first.

Most people don't care about getting their life from 93% excellence to 95% excellence because they are making much more real monumental shifts in pain management to get them from 19% to 90%. Precision is a privilege. It is something that my fellow privileged peers obsess over while writing their next tweet thread about getting an extra 1% out of their day and that making all the difference.

The future is here, but it is not evenly distributed.

The potential is here, but it is not evenly understood.

The pain must be dealt with first in order for the potential to be evenly considered.