There are two types of pain; one is the pain itself, the other is that other people don’t understand the pain.
One of my favourite singer songwriters, Risa Hirano wrote in her blog what her mentor told her; 80% of people suffer from pain daily, therefore, if your life is always happy and bright, you cannot write songs to touch other 80% people’s heart. Honestly, I don’t know what writing songs is like, but I understand what it means. Feeling other people’s pain is a unique ability of human beings. When a pain is understood by others, it can be healed. Singer songwriters often mitigate other people’s pain by sharing their pain in an artistic way. They tell us “you are not alone”.
Honestly speaking, when I’m stressed out, or even provoked, and depressed, I often think “why me?”. What makes the situation worse is the norm in Japanese working world; expressing pain at work is considered to be making excuse to avoid painful jobs, so you should keep quiet. In such a situation, pain will never be understood, will never be healed. In such a situation, I should recall what I wrote in an old post; encouraging my friends encourages myself. If I am discouraged, encourage others. But, can I? Am I strong enough to do that?
One day, when I was leaving my work place, I found small flowers in the parking. That’s a factory, and many workers throw away cigarette or whatever wherever. Trash are scattered over the parking. But no matter how nasty the environment is, they bear pretty flowers. They made me think that no matter what others do or say, I can remain myself and stand strong even under provocation.
It’s not about the environment or the circumstances. It’s myself. Even if my pain is not understood by others, I can understand other people’s pain and encourage them. It is easy to say but hard to do, but I’ve found it heals my pain.