Do you know the difference between pain and suffering?

Do you know which one you would choose?

Welcome back to Savi Psychologist.

I'm your host, Dr. Jade Wu.

Every week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research,

a sympathetic ear and zero judgment.

Today we figure out the difference between pain and suffering

and talk about how ironically we can actually ease suffering by embracing pain.

When I think about the most painful experiences in my life, whether they involved physical pain or emotional pain, I notice something funny.

The amount of hurt I felt at the time is not proportional to how much I shudder at the memory when I look back on it.

Let me give you some examples.

First of all, there's no way that any event caused more sheer body racking pain than giving birth.

After all, I labored for 20 hours, and by the way I broke my tailbone while I was pushing.

But even in the toughest moments of giving birth, I felt pride and excitement along with the physical pain.

And I think the next most painful experience was breaking my ankle in the first month of college.

But for the most part, that experience was pretty funny as I hobbled around on my crutches trying to carry all my books.

On the other hand, that time it was really cold when I visited Minnesota and I really didn't want to be there.

My feet were freezing, that was a drag.

And it's no exaggeration to say that every time I get a mosquito bite in the hot summer of North Carolina, I rage and rail.

Suffering galore.

Judged by the level of pain alone, giving birth is a million times worse than a mosquito bite.

Judged by a duration, a broken ankle lasted much longer than cold feet.

...