We Don't Remember Pleasure, We Remember Pain

It's crazy that in our society today, we must avoid pleasure when it was once so hard to find. 100 years ago, most people longed for pleasure and comfort. Back then, pleasure and comfort had much more meaning. Nowadays, with pleasure readily available, even in our magic rocks, it has lost its value and often brings us pain. Therefore, we must do the opposite and practice self-restraint and discipline, which is more important now than ever before.

Recently, I have come to the realization that the more pleasure I seek, the more pain that follows. For example, staying up late watching YouTube only makes me feel terrible in the morning. Despite the negative consequences, it is difficult to resist these pleasures as they are ubiquitous and feel so good.

Seeking pleasure is easy. It's easier to get Taco Bell than to make a meal at home. It's easier to scroll on TikTok than to go to the gym. It's easier to copy and paste the answer key than to actually learn the material. But when we seek pleasure and take the easy way out, our lives become harder.

Dopamine plays a role in this. As everything in life operates in cycles, when we engage in pleasurable activities and get more dopamine, the dopamine has to return to baseline. However, it actually returns to below baseline. So when we engage in easy, pleasurable activities, we feel really good really fast, but then we feel worse afterwards, often right after the pleasurable activity has ended.

Fortunately, if we seek discomfort and engage in challenging activities, our lives become easier. That's why I have started taking cold exposure and meditation seriously again. I realized that in the last few months, I had been indulging in so much pleasure that my life started feeling worse. Every day, I woke up with anxiety and an overall fear of life. Everything seemed difficult, and I was confused. I kept engaging in pleasure as a way to escape. After much journaling, I realized that I need to take the harder path now so I can return to a point where I am actually happy with life and engaging in meaningful activities. I want to wake up each day ready to conquer it, instead of sleeping in for two more hours.

When we indulge in too much pleasure, our lives become easier and we get accustomed to it, making a meaningful life much harder to achieve. However, we gain meaning from suffering. Think back on your memories - what are you most proud of? It's unlikely that you remember that mochi donut you ate two weeks ago, but I'm pretty sure you remember when you woke up at 5 am to practice for your marathon. We don't remember pleasure, we remember pain. Therefore, it's important to engage in pain and discomfort, because doing so will bring meaning back into our lives and allow us to appreciate the beauty of life.

Thanks for reading, let’s grow together :)