No pain, no gain, right? But then you need to find out where the pain comes from. At a certain point, life is all about recuperation ... at least for me. Going into the pain, finding out what's causing it, then I can go back to the fight and ... create the cycle all over again. That's how it seems to go. If you avoid all that, then you're a perfect candidate for the heart attack or some other hideous stress related disease. It's good to build up the ego, but then it has to be evolving ... nothing is fixed and the pain (if we figure out the cause) reminds us to change ... otherwise, painful death : - )