The randomiser wheel picked “No Pain, No Gain”. I’m currently using a tool to select phrases for my daily journal practice. They are all associated with the theme of Strength.

Plucking no pain, no gain from the hat of phrases related to the theme of Strength, my thoughts immediately went to the joy of working to achieve something you can be proud of.

To me, the gain is the sense of accomplishment you get when you look at something you created with your hands and see yourself reflected in it. That creative resonance strengthens you and leaves a kernel of meaning in the work.

Sacrificing Our Pain

In a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, we must think carefully before sacrificing our pain. This technology, marketed to make life quicker and easier, often brings unintended side effects: numbness, disconnection, and indifference to art, relationships, and the deeper creation process. By handing over responsibility, we risk losing the messy, chaotic, and sometimes painful process where joy, growth, and meaning truly arise.

Between desire and accomplishment lies a space—a space where creativity flourishes through messy, chaotic, sometimes painful processes of trial, error, delight, and despair. It’s where character is shaped, and our unique creative voice emerges. Yet this space is shrinking as we turn to technology to solve problems we don’t fully understand. The promise of productivity—that faster is better—leaves us chasing a mirage, trading depth for surface results.

Where Meaning is Made Possible

At one level, of course, we want the outcome. But if that’s all we have, we close down the site where meaning is built and nurtured. When creation becomes a quick command, we bypass the joy of meaningful effort.

The growing prevalence of artificial intelligence raises ethical questions about intellectual property and human replacement, but equally urgent is the “crisis of meaning.” The more we shrink that creative space, the more disconnected we feel, mistaking pain—the driver of love, creativity, and care—as something to eliminate.

But that pain drives us to do great things. It is love, creativity, compassion, and care. Without it, we gain nothing; we simply exist.

What we gain in the creative process isn’t external. It’s an inner growth planted in the present and nurtured over time. Fast, painless growth breeds fragility. Painful, deliberate effort grows something enduring, like a mighty oak: strong, rooted, and resilient.

It takes time—and time can be painful—but without it, we gain nothing genuinely worthwhile.