The Value of a Difficult Journey: Why Pain Is Proof of Growth

Worthwhile goals come with pain. Here are stories cheering on your tough path.

• Learn why the easy path can be more dangerous through tragic examples.
• See how failure and pain forge great individuals.
• Discover the wisdom and neuroscience behind going ‘slow and deep.’

Have you ever wished for a ‘cheat code’ in life? I too once dreamed of skipping the boring, painful process and reaching success instantly. We instinctively want the easy way, but strangely, the stories that stick and change our perspective are never about the easy path. The difficult journey holds a profound paradox.

Humans are “storytelling beings (Homo Narrans)” who understand the world through stories. Neuroscience shows that when we hear a well-crafted story, our brain synchronizes with the storyteller’s brain. This neurological empathy, thanks to ‘mirror neurons,’ makes us feel as if we are experiencing it ourselves. But for a story to be compelling, it must have a ‘conflict and resolution’ structure. A journey without pain is like a story without conflict—it fails to move the brain or leave a lasting memory.

The core message here is this: A difficult journey is not a side effect of achieving a goal but the very essence that makes the goal valuable. From now on, we will examine tragedies caused by haste, honor legends born from failure, and explore the wisdom of a slow, hard but meaningful path. Your difficult journey is not failure but proof that a great story is being written.

The High Cost of the ‘Easy Path’: Tragedies Born from Haste

We often equate speed with progress, but history shows the terrible price paid when speed sacrifices quality and safety.

1. Concrete Lessons from Sampoong and Seongsu

In the 1990s, South Korea’s “ppalli-ppalli” (hurry-hurry) culture was a national creed. It fueled miraculous economic growth but cast a dark shadow.

In 1994, the Seongsu Bridge collapsed due to poor welding and negligent maintenance aimed at shortening construction time. The social pressure of “ppalli-ppalli” was stronger than the steel structure.

Just eight months later, the Sampoong Department Store collapsed in 20 seconds. It was a predictable man-made disaster caused by greed and impatience. Illegal expansions, removal of key pillars, and dragging an 87-ton cooling tower on rollers caused fatal cracks.

2. Collapses in the Digital Age

The lessons from physical collapses apply in the digital era too. Silicon Valley’s famous motto “Move Fast and Break Things” is a modern version of the “ppalli-ppalli” culture. Interestingly, Facebook, which coined this motto, later changed it to “Move Fast with Stable Infrastructure.”

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (2016): Impatience to beat competitors led to battery design and manufacturing defects, causing a global recall.
• Cyberpunk 2077 (2020): Rushed release with numerous bugs disappointed fans.
• Quibi (2020): Despite nearly $2 billion investment, the streaming platform vanished in six months. It launched hastily without market validation and cut content sharing features to save development time, blocking organic growth.

All these tragedies illustrate Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Here, “construction time,” “release date,” and “fast market entry” replaced the essence of “safety,” “quality,” and “customer satisfaction.”

The Alchemist’s Flame: Legends Forged by Pain

But not all pain leads to destruction. Some pain becomes the raw material for creation. Stories of people who honed themselves through failure and despair show that pain is an essential process for growth.

• Michael Jordan: Instead of forgetting the pain of being cut from his high school team, he used it as lifelong motivation. Whenever he felt tired, he recalled his name missing from the roster and trained harder.

  

• J.K. Rowling: She transformed her severe depression after divorce into creative fuel. The soul-sucking despair was embodied in the iconic ‘Dementors’ of Harry Potter. Her greatest pain breathed life into her greatest creation.

  

  J.K. Rowling gave birth to a magical story from despair.

• Steve Jobs: His “wilderness years” after being ousted from Apple transformed him into a true leader. Through NeXT and Pixar, he learned the power of focus and storytelling. This painful exile was a necessary education for his triumphant return.

  

Their stories show adversity was not just an obstacle but a formative experience that made them great. As psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said, meaning can be found depending on the ‘attitude’ chosen in suffering. They actively reinterpreted setbacks as ‘origin myths,’ ‘sources of inspiration,’ and ’essential training.’

The Wisdom of the Process: Finding Joy in ‘Slowness’ and ‘Depth’

So how can we endure and enjoy this tough process?

• Deep Work: Professor Cal Newport says that ‘deep work’—focused, distraction-free cognitive effort—creates real value. It’s hard and boring but becomes an irreplaceable competitive advantage.

  

• Slow Food Movement: Opposing fast food, this movement respects local traditions and biodiversity. It’s a metaphor for life: a ‘slow food’ life, made with time and care, is richer than a ‘fast food’ life of quick success and shallow relationships.

• Warren Buffett’s Approach: As he says, “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.” All valuable things grow by compounding. A difficult journey is essential to allow the magic of compounding to work.

  

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Brain Hacking for Hardship: The Science of Positive Struggle

We can rewire our brains to turn painful processes into growth opportunities.

1. Eustress vs. Distress: Not all stress is equal. Positive stress (’eustress’) promotes growth, while negative stress (‘distress’) drains us. What matters is not the situation but how we interpret it.
2. Flow: Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘flow’ state occurs where high challenge meets high skill. The point where we feel ‘it’s hard’ is the gateway to flow.
3. Delayed Gratification: As shown in the ‘marshmallow experiment,’ the ability to resist immediate pleasure for a greater reward is like a muscle that can be trained. Choosing the hard path builds the mental strength needed for success.

   

Comparison: ‘Impatience’ vs. ‘Deep Journey’ Mindsets

These two mindsets show stark differences in process and outcome. Which one are you closer to?

Conclusion

We have seen the ruins caused by haste, witnessed the great victory of resilience, and explored the wisdom of patience and the science of positive struggle.

• Key Takeaways

  1. The easy path is a trap: Sacrificing essence (safety, quality) for speed can cost everything.
  2. Pain is raw material: Great success is born when pain from failure and setbacks is actively reinterpreted and used for growth.
  3. The process is the essence: Deep work, slow life, and compounding principles all show that a long, hard process creates greater value.

As BTS leader RM said in his UN speech, all our mistakes and faults combine to form the brightest stars in our lives. The difficult journey you are going through is not a sign of failure but the most important chapter in your unique and valuable story. Pain is proof that your journey has meaning.

Your journey is hard. That is why it is valuable.

So, tell your story. What story is your difficult journey creating?