Everything that leads to happiness involves pain.

… Many people avoid some of the very things that would bring them the deepest happiness such as marriage, children, intellectually challenging pursuits, religious commitment, and volunteer work. They fear the pain that inevitably accompanies such things and therefore devote more time to ‘fun’ things that bring little happiness, such as watching television.

As the Psalmist put it millennia ago, ‘Those who sow in tears will reap in joy.’ Many people, however, believe that they can both sow and reap without tears.

If pain were water, the world would drown