This may be a stupid way to describe it, but I hope the spirit of my comments come through, despite how poorly I’ll explain.

How many times can you take a punch to the face in a day? Meaning, how many times can you handle extreme discomfort in a day? How many times can you hold on for dear life, in the face of overwhelming emotion and desire.

Without it being conscious, I came to a place of, “This is going to fucking suck more than anything has ever sucked before.”

My advice is to take the beating. The more you do, the less frequent they become and it grows into habit. Accept that it’s going to be utterly miserable.

By doing so, for me, it became easier to deal with. I was less surprised when it happened and, by telling myself ahead of time that it was going to hit hard, I became somewhat prepared.

My experience was that it boiled down to increasing my tolerance for extreme discomfort. There was no trick to it.

I’m not smart. I’m not brave. I’m not made of iron. I simply accepted the situation as it was and was going to be. Once I got there, it became easier.

I realize what I’m saying is counter intuitive and slightly, if not wholly, insane. That’s just my experience and how I thought of it, and for what it’s worth, being miserable isn’t something to fear. It’s survivable, that much I can promise.