The Ache

I took this public pool gym locker room mirror selfie moments after tweeting about The Ache.

On August 11th, 2018, I tweeted the following:

“I feel like I’m about to hit a personal / mental breakthrough. If the dissonance between where you are and where you want to be gets stronger, keep going through it!”

It wasn’t the first time I felt like this. And it wouldn’t be the last. I can count a half a dozen times like this since I started my career: three to five days at a time when I have The Ache. I could see something I wanted to accomplish, or something I wanted to overcome, or a person I wanted to be. I also clearly saw the work it would take to get there. 

That’s where The Ache sets in.

We can interpret The Ache in two ways. We can see it as envy: I want what they have but I’ll never get it. Or, we can see it as magnetism: I want what they have and I see all the work it’s going to take to get it. Envy causes us to run or be bitter. But magnetism causes us to do the work we need to do. There’s tension in magnetism—especially before things connect. It can be painful! But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. 

Have you felt The Ache? When you did, what did you do with it? 

“If the dissonance between where you are and where you want to be gets stronger, keep going through it!”