Reason # 356

Pain.

In nursing school, we are always talking about how it is impossible to know another's pain. 

We try to understand it, to describe it, and chart it. We OLDCARTS it: we ask about the onset, location, duration, character of the pain (dull, stabbing), aggravating and alleviating factors, related symptoms, treatment, and how it feels on a scale between 1 and 10. 

But in reality, this gives us no basis of comparison between one person and the next.

Which is perhaps why we, as humans, complain so much. 

No one understands me! No, really! It hurts! 

And why we continue to push past the pain. 

It is perhaps a shared ideology of pain and what happens when one transcends pain that encourages people to work out together. 

I know that training for half marathons and beyond is easier when I train with others.

And I can say, without a doubt, that doing 300 sit- ups is easier with others. 

And when broken into segments. 

And with a cheering section.

Which is reason # 356 why I love boot camp.