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Often people are afraid to set out on a course of t'shuva because they associate repentance with pain. While pain is a part of the t'shuva process, the hardships of t'shuva are quickly erased by the joy which the baal t'shuva discovers.

"T'shuva does not come to make life bitter, but to make it more pleasant. The happy satisfaction with life that comes with t'shuva is derived from the waves of bitterness which cling to a person during the initial stages of t'shuva. However, this is the highest, creative valor, to recognize and understand that pleasantness evolves out of bitterness, life out of the clutches of death, eternal pleasures out of sickness and pain. As this everlasting knowledge grows and becomes clearer in the mind, in the emotions, in the person's physical and spiritual natures, the person becomes a new being. With a courageous spirit, he transmits a new life force to all of his surroundings. He spreads the good news to all of his generation, and to all generations to be, that there is joy for the righteous in the Holy One of Israel" (Ibid, 16:6).

Higher than getting high