Transforming Pain into Growth: Unleashing Your Inner Strength - Beyond Hope Project

Dive into an empowering episode of the Beyond Hope Project Podcast with Jason Tharp, your Champion of Hope, as he explores the transformative power of pain. Discover how facing life’s challenges head-on can catalyze personal growth, resilience, and a renewed sense of purpose. Learn practical strategies to turn pain points into stepping stones for a fulfilling life. Join us on a journey to embrace pain as a catalyst for growth and unlock your potential to create the life you desire.

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MEET JASON:

Hi, I’m Jason!
Ever since I was six, I knew I was born to tell stories. As a best-selling author, illustrator, and sought-after speaker, I've turned my personal battles with grade four brain cancer, obesity, and negative self-talk into fuel for transformation. My keynotes don't just talk—they spark potential, ignite creativity, and build resilience. If you're ready for an engaging experience that challenges the status quo and propels your organization to new heights, let's turn your 'impossible today' into 'possible tomorrow' together!

For more information or to partner with me - https://www.jasontharp.com/bookjason

Transcript

hey guys welcome back to another episode

0:12

of the Beyond hope project podcast my

0:14

name is Jason Tharp the champion of Hope

0:17

and before we dive into this what's

0:19

going to be a very powerful episode just

0:21

wanted to ask a favor um did you know

0:23

that we have a Beyond hope project

0:25

newsletter um freshly made every week I

0:27

draw a brand new comic every week I

0:30

write about my experiences uh stories

0:32

that uh hopefully Inspire I get a lot of

0:35

messages back that they do Inspire so

0:37

it's really cool to feel um and as well

0:40

as just meant to be an under two-minute

0:42

read and we're not selling you anything

0:43

at all the other part is just asking for

0:45

some help help in spreading the hope uh

0:48

if you are listening to this and you

0:50

something in here inspires you just

0:52

share it with one person that's all I'm

0:53

asking uh because that little bit of

0:55

share could change somebody else's day

0:57

and that's all I got for promos right

0:58

now uh I want to jump into this idea of

1:02

of pain being a huge growth motivator in

1:05

our life because I think we all just

1:07

want to avoid pain we never want to

1:09

experience pain because it sucks and the

1:13

avoidance of pain though what I want to

1:15

try to do is flip it on its head and see

1:17

like what we actually are avoiding in

1:19

that pain like is it a growth is it a

1:21

growth point for us or is it just truly

1:23

pain and I'm speaking from a lot of

1:25

experience because I feel like I have

1:27

dug through lots of pain in my life

1:29

whether it was figuring out why you know

1:32

I hated myself so much to figuring out

1:34

you know how am I going to get over this

1:36

brain cancer thing um how am I going to

1:38

build my life back how am I going to be

1:40

somebody that goes into a mission from

1:41

this how am I going to just stick around

1:44

and start to share this story because

1:46

believe it or not even this stuff right

1:48

here this podcast which I dearly love

1:50

doing this stuff it's it's it started

1:52

out as a pain point it started out as

1:53

like me thinking that there was no way

1:56

that people would actually want to hear

1:57

this stuff and I think what we start to

1:59

realize is as we're doing this what we

2:01

really think we're trying to do is we're

2:02

trying to slow the world down we think

2:04

if we just stand still somehow the world

2:06

will stop spinning and we focus so much

2:09

on these pain points and we look at them

2:10

almost like imagine walking down a

2:12

sidewalk and there's just one weed and

2:15

you've spent all this time you know

2:17

making your landscaping Great and making

2:19

sure all the stuff looks awesome and

2:21

your focal point is just this one weed

2:23

and you just keep pulling it and every

2:25

time you pull it it just pops back up

2:26

immediately and you focus so much on

2:28

that weed that you miss out all this

2:30

massive beautiful amazing stuff that's

2:33

going around you and when we do that

2:35

what we're actually doing is we're

2:36

letting things pass by what we missed

2:40

seeing in all this stuff is that

2:42

actually pain could be a huge

2:43

opportunity for us to grow give you some

2:46

examples from my life when I was

2:49

diagnosed the way I was um I easily

2:52

could have just kind of crumbled and

2:54

said you know what you're right you know

2:55

I'm not going to be in here seven months

2:57

and life is going to change forever

3:00

instead I really started looking at like

3:03

well if I want to be this how am I going

3:04

to go about doing it differently what

3:06

can I do in my life how can I actually

3:08

address the pain head on and see what

3:09

it's trying to teach me and in that

3:11

teaching me is there something that I

3:13

can actually use to benefit me in

3:14

growing into the type of person that

3:17

ends up being on the other side of this

3:19

to help do ultimately what I'm doing now

3:23

share the lesson learnedness now I did

3:25

not know that at the time at the time

3:27

all I saw was the pain but inside of me

3:30

there was some sort of spark that said

3:33

you got to figure this thing out and I

3:35

think that's what happens sometimes with

3:37

pain is it's really closely aligned with

3:40

the things we're looking for pain is

3:42

very close Association to fear too right

3:44

because we can when we try to grow fear

3:47

kicks in or if something happens it's

3:48

really painful we want to avoid it at

3:50

all cost it's the same sort of thing

3:52

they kind of like go hand in hand but

3:54

out of that what we can kind of see is

3:57

that there's a chance to renew right

3:59

it's almost like a new seed what if

4:01

you're pulling that weed out of that

4:03

sidewalk and you actually plant a flower

4:04

seed down maybe it is in pulling those

4:07

things out and addressing it and

4:09

understanding that it may not go away

4:11

and it may keep showing itself up but

4:14

you can also plant a beautiful flower

4:16

next to that weed and then all of a

4:18

sudden the

4:19

flower you know gets bigger than the

4:21

weed and you don't see the weed anymore

4:23

doesn't mean it doesn't exist doesn't

4:25

mean that your pain is going to go away

4:27

it's always going to be there but what

4:29

we do and addressing is we learn how to

4:31

cope with it when it when it rars its

4:33

head when it gets too loud inside our

4:36

brain to uh make us want to move forward

4:40

we actually are able to address it

4:42

because it's raising our awareness it's

4:43

understanding that you know this is a

4:45

normal part of

4:46

life you know this is also a really cool

4:49

thing to show you that you're alive you

4:52

know just imagine that like the only

4:54

time that you're never going to have

4:54

pain is when you're not here anymore I

4:57

mean I me really like listen to that

4:59

again the only time you're not going to

5:02

feel pain is when you are dead so why

5:06

not live

5:07

today understand that things are going

5:09

to go sideways things are going to

5:11

happen things are going to be painful

5:12

things are going to challenge you things

5:14

are going to make you question

5:15

everything but it happens to everybody

5:18

too you know the I've said it a million

5:21

times on this and I'll say it again the

5:23

almost worst part about life is the good

5:25

stuff and the bad stuff are completely

5:27

normal we just don't get to pick what

5:30

those are but we do get to pick how we

5:32

react to them and if you're constantly

5:34

reacting to your painful moments as

5:37

things that you can't move past or

5:39

things that you just get stuck on or

5:41

things that you start blaming or maybe

5:43

you're a self- sabotager or maybe you're

5:45

self-doubt that you feel like that's

5:47

just another brick in those stories and

5:49

that's the only angle you're willing to

5:51

look at it don't be surprised when you

5:53

stay stuck in those

5:55

spots I can speak from experience from

5:58

this because this is exactly how I laid

5:59

the foundation around me that made

6:01

myself a

6:10

[Music]

6:14

self-hatred to get under control and you

6:16

can spray one and another it pop up

6:18

until you start to learn that these are

6:20

parts of my life that aren't going to go

6:21

away I have to start figuring out how

6:23

I'm going to deal with it and it did

6:25

take something pretty big for me to

6:26

finally actually deal with it I couldn't

6:29

hide it hiding behind it anymore I had

6:31

to really realize if this pain was part

6:33

of it and how am I going to figure out a

6:34

way around it and the way around it was

6:36

not trying to avoid it it was going

6:38

straight through it so it is a big part

6:41

of knowing that you're alive waking up

6:43

every day that you get to actually

6:44

experience stuff even if it is

6:47

painful because that's pretty cool to be

6:50

alive I mean think about what the odds

6:52

of you being you are so

6:55

minute that you get to experience this

6:58

world right now and I I know for some of

7:00

us that we go like gee thanks this sucks

7:02

my life sucks and all that stuff like

7:04

that I would question something or I

7:06

would Challen not necessary question I

7:08

would challenge you to think about it a

7:09

different

7:10

way is it possible that your way of

7:14

viewing what you're seeing as

7:16

painful just happens to be the reality

7:19

you're

7:20

creating in other words could you change

7:22

your perspective of something and look

7:25

for something the exact opposite today

7:27

if you're somebody that always tells you

7:29

yourself that things always go wrong for

7:32

me why not take today to challenge

7:34

yourself to look for everything that's

7:36

going right for you doesn't have to be

7:39

massive things it could be the smallest

7:41

things what we're trying to do is we're

7:42

trying to raise our awareness to all the

7:44

things that we're causing that is

7:45

causing our pain and looking for the

7:47

exact opposite thing all we're doing is

7:48

we're trying to be aware of this moment

7:51

because the challenge is not winning

7:52

your whole day I think a lot of times

7:54

when we're overwhelmed with pain we

7:56

think that these days are just going to

7:57

string together and a week goes by and

7:58

we're always going to be stuck in it but

8:00

that's not really how life works because

8:03

what's already passed is over by the

8:05

time you're at this point in the podcast

8:07

that part that you listen to two minutes

8:09

ago will never happen again unless you

8:12

just watched the video but then it

8:13

didn't really happen anymore it's just a

8:16

past reflection that you're bringing to

8:18

your present moment the same is what is

8:21

happening when you're seeing all these

8:22

things in your life is pain all they are

8:25

is a past reflection that you're

8:27

interpreting into your present moment

8:30

if you no longer want to experience

8:32

those things then it's really important

8:34

to start to understand how you can start

8:35

to capture this present moment and turn

8:37

it into a positive thing for you and it

8:40

starts by addressing the pain

8:42

stuff because in the experience of pain

8:46

what we're learning is we're learning

8:48

resilience we're learning that when

8:50

things go sideways how do I get back up

8:54

because what starts to happen in that

8:55

process is that you start to remove all

8:57

the excuses for yourself

9:00

when I got diagnosed I thought how is

9:02

how am I going to get up over this the

9:04

thing that started inspiring me was man

9:05

I have I have overcome so much stuff in

9:07

my life yes this is a pretty bad one but

9:11

I also thought remember thinking back

9:13

when I was like you know 400 pounds like

9:15

how am I ever going to feel comfortable

9:18

in my own skin and I remember that

9:21

feeling of every day being painful and I

9:23

thought how am I ever going to not feel

9:26

like this and it was finally when I

9:28

decided I had enough and I started to

9:30

just address it head on I stopped

9:33

avoiding it I stopped using all the

9:35

other things that didn't work and I

9:37

started to raise my awareness and that

9:38

doesn't mean that overnight it happened

9:39

it means that I started slowly each day

9:42

taking tiny tiny steps and those Tiny

9:44

Steps o o over time end up adding to

9:47

these big Monumental things that changes

9:49

everything for us so these are

9:52

experiences these experiences start to

9:54

build your future but they all happen in

9:57

this present moment you can create any

10:00

world that you want if you're focused on

10:02

what you would rather have versus what

10:04

you don't have and this is where growth

10:07

happens this is where gratitude begins

10:09

to show up because what you should start

10:11

to think about is how grateful you are

10:13

that you get to experience these

10:16

things everybody goes through storms

10:18

they're always happening we're all going

10:21

through this world like these little in

10:23

these little Bubbles and when we just

10:25

happen to crisscross with somebody

10:27

else's we just get a chance to share

10:30

with them sometimes in those

10:32

crisscrosses somebody will say something

10:33

to you that'll change stuff sometimes

10:35

they'll say stuff that adds more crap to

10:37

your

10:39

pile but that doesn't mean you have to

10:41

add it to your pile just because

10:44

somebody is saying something to you

10:45

that's painful and it's feeding your

10:46

painful story ask a question am I the

10:48

one looking for those things to tell

10:51

that story continually because that's

10:53

what I did I would look at the world and

10:55

all these magical things that were

10:56

happening I would look at the one tiny

10:58

thing in the corner

11:00

that fed the story that I'm not good

11:03

enough and it just kept building until

11:05

eventually the pile gets too big and it

11:07

crumbles down on top of you and you have

11:08

no choice you can continue and accept

11:12

that this is your life or realize that

11:15

it doesn't have to be and you do have

11:17

the power to change it and then out of

11:20

that what you'll find is that through

11:22

gratitude through shared experiences

11:25

through present moment connection that

11:27

people will start showing up and people

11:29

that you did not know existed will start

11:32

showing up to help you get to where you

11:33

want to go you didn't change anything

11:35

about how you went you didn't change the

11:37

fact that you made all the pain

11:38

disappear what you started to do is just

11:39

address it in a different way you

11:41

started to figure out how can I lessen

11:43

this pain knowing it's not going to go

11:45

away how can I make it shrink enough so

11:48

I can deal with it every day and if you

11:50

can learn how to do that what you're

11:51

going to start doing you're going to

11:52

start winning your days as you start

11:53

winning your days people are going to

11:54

notice and by the way people notice even

11:56

when you're not winning your days it's

11:58

about showing showing up and just being

12:00

and a lot of times what you think is

12:02

really bad for you could be somebody

12:03

else looking at you and going like wow

12:06

like I wish I had my stuff together that

12:09

much and I think that what we're looking

12:11

for in the world is just things that

12:12

keep telling our stories that we tell

12:14

ourselves so if you want to change your

12:17

story change the lens you're looking

12:18

through it you know understand more so

12:21

that growth and renewal is constantly on

12:24

the plate every day when you go to bed

12:28

your clothes are that chapter it'll

12:29

never repeat itself but as soon as you

12:32

open your eyes you have the ability to

12:34

create the day that you

12:36

want our job I believe is to make sure

12:39

that we're telling ourselves the things

12:41

that make sure that that day doesn't

12:42

turn into something as a repeat of the

12:44

day

12:45

before now that's easier said than done

12:47

but it's 100%

12:49

possible you got to remember not that

12:51

long ago I was supposed to be dead in

12:54

seven months it's I'm going into almost

12:57

year three now completely clear nothing

13:00

in there except for a brain but a big

13:03

black

13:04

hole all because I chose not to believe

13:08

to tell myself the same narrative over

13:10

again I don't take medicines I don't

13:13

take things that are keeping it under

13:16

control I do wear this device um but

13:19

there's no external thing I'm not taking

13:21

something to ease the pain of this I'm

13:24

dealing with it headon every day I spend

13:26

the time to make sure that I bring

13:27

myself to the present moment and create

13:29

the world that I want to create and this

13:31

is what I'm suggesting to you too you

13:33

have the power within you right now to

13:35

change everything that you want thing

13:38

that you're looking for does not exist

13:40

out there somewhere it exists when you

13:43

start to turn in and realize that you

13:46

yourself have everything that you're

13:48

looking for once you start to attach

13:51

yourself to the outcome that you want

13:54

look for that in the world and you start

13:55

to give it little bits and plant the

13:58

seed what you're going to find is that

14:01

everything you're looking for has behind

14:04

all the pain that you were trying to

14:06

avoid and that's pretty

14:09

magical so guys uh that's that's kind of

14:12

what I got right now um for you on that

14:15

subject the idea that just embracing

14:18

your pain I know that sounds super easy

14:22

and it's one of those things that easily

14:24

falls into that category of like easy

14:26

for you to say um but understand that

14:29

what I just told you was straight from

14:32

my story how it felt for me um so in a

14:35

lot of ways I'm not making up this stuff

14:38

this this whole podcast is all things

14:40

that I've dealt with and which is a lot

14:42

of reasons why this is so easy to just

14:44

kind of sit down to talk about it you

14:45

know uh in true disclosure when I sit

14:47

down here I have like you know a

14:50

sentence to start to remind myself of

14:52

what I want to talk about but instead

14:54

what I do is I end up going off script

14:56

to that and turning into what I remember

14:57

going through and it's a way for you to

15:00

see yourself through my story and that's

15:02

what the whole mission of this is so if

15:05

any of this touched you any of this made

15:06

sense to you any of this is something

15:09

that you need to share with you know a

15:11

family member a friend or anybody else

15:13

that's struggling share this spread the

15:15

hope to them and help me remove some of

15:19

the pain in my life too and start to end

15:21

my days because I'm trying to build

15:23

momentum to help other people out there

15:25

see that they're pretty amazing with

15:27

that being said I just want to remind

15:28

you one thing congratulations for making

15:31

it this far life's not easy things go

15:33

sideways and things are a lot of pain

15:35

are full of a lot of pain but you're

15:36

doing really good and if somebody hasn't

15:38

told you lately I just want you to know

15:40

that I'm really happy to share this

15:42

journey with you you're loved more than

15:45

you can realize and people are paying

15:47

attention to you and you're not

15:49

alone and I hope this helps power

15:55

[Music]

15:57

up