Is the suffering worth it

[Angrboda]

The things the world tells us are not half as scary as the things we tell ourselves.

I have not found that to be true.  Often things are worse than was promised.

Do you know the tale of the woman and the two Buddhist monks? Forbidden to touch women, the two monks came upon a woman who needed to get across a river. The older monk carried the woman on his shoulders and the two monks carried on. This greatly disturbed the younger monk, but he held his peace. Finally after some hours he just couldn't keep his piece and he asked the older monk how he could bear carrying the woman on his shoulders. To which the older monk replied that he carried her for a few minutes yet the younger had been carrying her all this time. The thoughts we have about something determine our experience, and often our thoughts are an exaggeration of the actual reality.