The Pain You're Avoiding Is the Key to Your Greatness | Amy Purdy

0:00Look, if you've got prescriptions, the Walmart app is your place to manage them. Transfer your scripts, refill them, and have them delivered straight to you. Migraines managed. Allergies alleviated. Dermatology derma delivered. Ding dong. Is that your pizza? Nope. Walmart pharmacy delivery with a refill. Switch to Walmart and manage your prescriptions in the app. The Walmart you thought you knew is now new. Delivery not available for all prescriptions. Exclusions apply. Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.

0:42What if you didn't have all these challenges physically, emotionally that most people never experienced? Do you think you could have had a great life still?

0:51Amy Purdy:I don't think I would have had a life with as much meaning. Really? Oh, for sure. Without the pain, the suffering, the surgeries, you don't think it would have been as unique? Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, I think I would have been a massage therapist. I would have loved helping people because that's what I was doing before. I have no idea where I would have gone after that. But I think that our challenges bring us into the depths of life. They help us experience life to its fullest. We think that our challenges stop us from experiencing life to the fullest. but really it's what opens the door so that we can experience life to the fullest.

1:29I think a lot of people need to hear this because most people are running away from their challenges. They're running away from their pain and their problems. Right. And I'm not saying you should live a life of problem and pain all day long. No. But what I'm hearing you say is that your challenges and the pain and the biggest struggles you've been through have given you the most meaning and fulfillment as well. How can someone think that way who is in the middle of so much pain and sadness right now in their own personal life? How do they start to believe maybe this is happening for me? I just don't know what it's for yet.

2:03Amy Purdy:Right. Gosh, I think it's just, I really think we have to lean into our challenges. It's leaning into the challenge. I know that that's hard, and it's hard in the moment because we're trying to run away from our challenges. but actually where we learn, where we grow, where we learn who we are is by leaning into the challenge is what can we extract from it that can help us move forward. Even if it's the smallest little thing in that moment, because like I said, that would grow, whatever it is that you can lean into in that moment to just find the light, to find the sliver of hope, whatever it may be, just to focus on that, that then grows.

2:45Yes.

2:45Amy Purdy:And because it is hard when you're in the thick of challenge, it's hard to see the other side of it. If you're dealing with anxiety, for example, you cannot be inspired. It's impossible. You cannot see a vision for yourself in the future. You are in the here and now you are stuck. But if you can find these little like just moments that pull you through whatever that may be and lean on that, that's what helps to get you through. Yeah. And, you know, when I wrote this book, so I wrote 21 chapters, 21 different kind of topics. And the topics were all struggles that I had. And the tools are what helped me get through those struggles.

3:25Amy Purdy:And I just started to realize there are things that are helping me get through. Like, yes, I, you know, if I'm overwhelmed, but it's like, okay, now I'm not overwhelmed. So what's helping me get through that? Oh, it's because I started to compartmentalize. I started to segment my life a little bit. Like I'm going to focus on this one thing and just that, and then get through that. And then I'll focus on the next thing and then get through that. When I was 19 years old, you know, I lost my kidneys, my spleen, my hearing, and my left ear all at once. I was going to a doctor's appointment one day to work on legs.

4:02Amy Purdy:The next day I'd have to go to a kidney appointment to figure out if I was going to have to have a kidney transplant. The next day, I'd have to go to like a hearing appointment to figure out if I needed a hearing it. And this was all at 19 years old. And it was so overwhelming and it could completely crush you. But what I started doing is focusing on one thing at a time. So I would say, okay, you know what? This week is just leg week. That's it. I'm not thinking about my other problems. I'm not thinking, yeah, I'm not thinking about my kidneys. I'm not thinking about if I need a hearing aid, I'm just thinking about my legs and that's it.

4:39Amy Purdy:And then the next week would be, okay, now we're focused on my kidney. Like, do I need a kidney transplant? Let's get blood work, everything that we have to get. And just by kind of segmenting things out, it got rid of that overwhelm. And I've used that throughout the rest of my life. I mean, it's something that you can use, whether you're going through challenges like compartmentalize can help you go through challenges, but also help you rise above and achieve the things that you want to achieve as well. If you, you know, if you're busy and you're overwhelmed because you have good things going on, you just start to kind of compartmentalize things a little bit.

5:18Amy Purdy:I think I, you know, through my challenges, I just started to realize there were things that I was leaning on that were helping me to get through instead of just, um, Oh, feeling completely out of control when we really pay attention to like, what is it that just brightened my day? What is it that just changed my mood and lean into that and really focus on that? Then that, you know, that can change your entire day. That's so true that you, you, you talk about that because I was going through some just personal internal stuff last night and it was hard for me to sleep. And I woke up still feeling kind of stressed out this morning.

5:57And I just had twin girls who were five months old. So I was just like, you know what? I need to get out of myself and focus on my girls. I went in. I held one of them. I took them for a walk. And it just allowed me to focus on the present rather than the stuff I'm stressed about. And it gave me kind of more of that purpose and that grounded energy, putting that towards that as opposed to the problems or the stress and anxiety. And I think if we can all find that type of tool for ourselves to get grounded in the present, that's hopefully going to help you get over that stress.

6:27Amy Purdy:Exactly.

6:57going to help you transform your relationship with money this moment moving forward. We have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following and stay tuned to this episode of The Daily Motivation Show. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description that will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on the School of Greatness. And if you are loving the daily motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now.

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8:16Look, if you've got prescriptions, the Walmart app is your place to manage them. Transfer your scripts, refill them, and have them delivered straight to you. Migraines managed. Allergies alleviated. Dermatology derma delivered. Ding dong. Is that your pizza? Nope. Walmart pharmacy delivery with a refill. Switch to Walmart and manage your prescriptions in the app. The Walmart you thought you knew is now new. Delivery not available for all prescriptions. Exclusions apply.