The "Suffering" badge

When I was in 4th grade, I joined Girl Scouts. I didn't know much about the mission or what joining would entail... I just reeeeeally wanted to sell the cookies.

My involvement lasted about as long as the "cookie season," and that was enough for me. In that short time, however, I did learn that there were these little colorful blocks I could earn called badges. 

There were badges in all sorts of colors and designs for lots of different things: art skills, first aid, nature skills, sports, cooking, being a good citizen... my friends Brittany and Melissa (who had enthusiastically recruited me to help sell cookies... maybe there was a "friendly recruiter" badge...) were decked OUT. They had worked hard over the years to meet specific requirements and put in the time to earn these colorful embroidered emblems of excellence.

I've been thinking a lot lately about those hard-earned badges and how we adults can pour our time and energy into earning "badges" of our own to wear proudly on ourselves for all to see. Some are admirable, like "super fun mom who knows all of the slang words but is also a responsible grown-up and somehow always has plenty of time for self-care;" others feel noble but actually just drag us down and keep us from our highest form of service.

One of the biggest badges in this category is the "Suffering" badge.

This badge is often disguised as something to aspire to, because the process of earning it starts out a lot like the badge of "Growth" (requirements: struggle, courage, perseverance, recovery, humility, accepting support, creativity). The difference is, "Suffering" is a lot easier to earn. All we have to do is stay stuck in the struggle requirement and refuse to move into any of the others. 

This is not a badge to wear with honor.

Yes, suffering makes us more empathetic to the needs of others. This is a great thing. It's also something that comes naturally as part of living a human life. There is nothing extra we have to do for this to occur. Nor do we have to stay in this state.

Yes, it takes more work to earn our "Growth" badge instead of settling for "Suffering." But doing this work yields beautiful rewards, whereas the Suffering badge leaves you feeling miserable and stuck...as you find yourself on a couch consuming an entire box of cookies you bought from an eager young salesperson.

There is more available. 

Trade the Suffering badge for something that you're totally proud of. It's harder, but it's there, ready for you.