When Pain Gives Birth to Brilliance

Angelito “Obet” Cruz, MBD, DBA (Candidate)

As much as we hate and avoid pain, it is pain that pushes us to innovate. When things aren’t going our
way and we or our loved ones are hurt by circumstances, we are forced to explore new way to address
our situations. Thus, there will be a point in life when the accumulated frustration or anguish at the
present state of affairs builds up to a climax of change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the
worse. But whatever is the ultimate outcome of that sudden change, we will remember it as the
moment when our life was defined one way or the other.

Life-defining moments come at different points depending on the person. Some hear their calling early
on and pursue life-changing careers at a young age. Others encounter the moment later and become
completely different persons because of their realizations. There are struggling teenagers who are
suddenly hit with an idea and go on to reap millions of dollars, like Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.
Still, there are very mature people out there, who have gone hollow inside, but then they happen upon
a new religion, philosophy or a way of life, or a new love and they decide to overhaul their lifestyles and
beliefs because of their newfound spirituality or love, like Elizabeth Gilbert (author of best selling
autobiography, Eat Pray Love). And of course, there are those unfortunate ones who are led by painful
circumstances to commit one gravely evil deed, and their lives spiral downwards from that point
onward. All of these are examples of life-defining moments that either result in victory or failure.

What we must learn to master is how to effectively deal with pain, so that we can harness its power to
come up with a life-defining moment that changes our lives for the better. The resulting change should
help us grow as intelligent and caring individuals not break our humanity further. This is the real
challenge we must face because most of the time, our big decisions not only affect our lives, but they
have repercussions on the lives of our loved ones, as well. If you think about it, a big change would not
be that valuable if it results in the suffering of the ones we love and cherish.

There are two things we must really think about when deciding whether to push through with our big
change or not: legacy and regret. Legacy is that thing, whether tangible or intangible, that we will leave
our loved ones with. If our life-defining moment would only leave a dark and dirty mark in our virtual
biography, then it’s probably not worth it. On the other hand, in terms of regret, we must ask ourselves
if the regrets that would follow from our decision (if any at all) are manageable or not. If you can picture
yourself spending the rest of your life regretting your big decision, then it would be wise to think twice,
thrice and even more times if you should push through with it or not.

In the end, we must not be afraid to explore new ways of doing things. After all, our intellect should be
maximized at all times, not caged by routines that usually bring us shallow comforts. So be creative.
Discover your true potential and unleash it. Define your life for the better and give birth to your own
brand of brilliance.