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title: Pain Is Inevitable. Suffering Is Optional.
modified: 2026-07-24
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> [“The trick is not minding that it hurts.”](https://youtu.be/TvQViPBAvPk) — [Lawrence of Arabia (1962 film)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056172/)

> “The struggles you endure today will be the ‘good old days’ you’ll laugh about tomorrow.” — Aaron Lauritsen

> “Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could possibly happen. Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?”

> “Pain is neither unbearable nor unending, as long as you keep in mind its limits and don’t magnify them in your imagination.”

> “Suffering is humbling. It pays to know how to get your butt kicked.” — Christopher McDougall, [Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6473602)

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> “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” — Haruki Murakami, [What I Talk About When I Talk About Running](https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2475030)
>
> 痛是難免的，苦是甘願的。

Say you’re running and you think, ‘Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.

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[Suffering = Pain × Resistance; To suffer more = To suffer before it is necessary](https://weeklyio.substack.com/p/useful-definitions)

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_Duḥkha_ (commonly spelled _dukkha_) is a central Buddhist concept usually translated as “suffering,” “pain,” “unsatisfactoriness,” or “discontentment”