Numbing the Pain: Why We Avoid Suffering in a Comfort-Obsessed Culture
Suffering is not welcome in our world today.
In a culture that celebrates pleasure and comfort, we do everything we can to avoid pain. We reach for pills to dull depression, distractions to escape grief, and entertainment to silence our inner unrest. We’ve been taught that pain has no purpose—so we suppress it, ignore it, or medicate it.
From childhood, we’re shielded from discomfort.
Parents vow to protect their children from pain.
Spouses promise not to hurt each other.
Friends avoid hard conversations.
But what we avoid, eventually finds us out.
Pain Isn’t the Enemy—Avoidance Is
We often suffer more from suppressing pain than from facing it. We spend so much energy avoiding it—only for it to surface in unexpected ways.
Think of it like a balloon filled with air. When you squeeze one side, the pressure just shifts—and eventually, it bursts.
Pain that’s avoided will resurface—somewhere, somehow.
That’s why some people harm themselves physically: they need to feel something to silence what’s going on in their minds. The suffering never truly disappeared—it just moved.
What Does Our Avoidance Reveal?
We live in a world full of numbing agents:
Drugs for the body
Sex for the emotions
Alcohol for the mind
Entertainment for the spirit
But none of these heal. They only distract. We trade healing for numbness, and peace for temporary relief.
The real question is this:
Why are we so afraid to feel? Why do we avoid pain—and yet inflict it on ourselves and others?
Could it be that we’ve forgotten suffering has the potential to form us, grow us, and connect us?
A Culture Without a Theology of Suffering
We’re taught how to love, but not how to suffer well.
We’re promised comfort, but not transformation.
Parents cannot stop pain from touching their children.
Marriages will face trials.
Life will break us open.
But what if pain has a purpose? What if suffering is a refining fire—not to destroy us, but to rebuild us?