After you get a vaccination, you’ll often have a day of “flu-like symptoms.” This is off-putting to some, and actually probably accounts for a fair bit of vaccine hesitancy.
We aren’t very good at differentiating between the pain that strengthens us and the pain that weakens us.
It’s the same for practicing: we don’t always know the difference between the exhausted feeling that comes from a great practice session and the feeling that comes from misuse of your instrument. Witness the young musicians who end music school with tendinitis.
It’s the same for school: as learners, we can often not tell the onerous assignment that will teach us and the onerous assignment that doesn’t teach us anything. As teachers, we can miss the mark and assign work for the sake of assigning work – that is, pain that weakens us.
Get good at telling the difference between the two kinds of pain. Strengthening pain should be sought out. Weakening pain should be avoided.