🎙️ FloTalks Ep. 7 — Chosen Pain vs. Unchosen Pain: Build Capacity, Not Suffering

There are two kinds of pain in life: the pain you choose and the pain that chooses you.
One builds you. The other breaks you — unless you learn how to turn it into purpose.

In this raw and transformative episode, Bridger and Elena dive into what pain really teaches us — from grueling workouts and sleepless nights to the agony of injury, loss, and rebuilding your identity from the ground up. They share the tools, philosophies, and stories that helped them move from suffering to strength.

This conversation isn’t about avoiding pain — it’s about learning to love it enough to alchemize it into growth. They explore how to build willpower when it’s gone, how to find gratitude when you’re angry at God, and why resisting pain only multiplies it.

You’ll hear powerful moments on:
• The difference between pain as a teacher, test, and trap
• How to separate pain from suffering through mindset and breathwork
• Finding the balance between grace and excuses
• Turning despair into discipline and gratitude
• Reclaiming willpower, quitting opioids, and falling back in love with life itself

If you’re battling physical pain, emotional grief, or just the heaviness of being human — this one’s for you. It’s truth, humor, faith, and philosophy all in one hour of honesty you won’t forget.

⏱️ Timestamps
0:00 – Intro: “Choose Your Hard”
3:10 – The pain we choose vs. the pain that chooses us
8:45 – Building capacity through discomfort
15:00 – Chronic pain, willpower, and mental endurance
22:30 – Breathwork, focus, and escaping the spiral
29:20 – Grace vs. justification
36:10 – The difference between pain and suffering
42:00 – Energy: fear vs. gratitude
48:20 – When people’s reactions make healing harder
54:10 – Community, shared suffering, and real support
59:15 – Pain as teacher, test, and trap
1:01:00 – Outro + gratitude to the FloTalks community

🎧 Listen on:
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Everywhere you find FloTalks

📲 Connect with us:
Bridger → @bridgerleefrederick
Elena → @flostate_recovery | Facebook @elenabrandner | TikTok @flostate_recovery

❤️ Support Bridger’s RecoveryIf it’s on your heart to help Bridger with his treatment and care moving forward, THANK YOU! Your support means the world. Here's the GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/9cd907308

💬 About FloTalks
FloTalks is a weekly show about rebuilding your life after everything breaks — physically, mentally, and spiritually. Hosted by Bridger Frederick, a contractor-turned-creator rebuilding his body after a spinal cord injury, and Elena Brandner, a trauma-informed coach and adaptive athlete, the show explores what it really takes to heal, grow, and find faith in the middle of chaos.

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