Mill on Utilitarianism

"Pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable things...are desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain."

Since when does pleasure come without pain?  After reading Mill on Utilitarianism, this was the one thought that kept going through my head. I cannot think of a time when I received pleasure without pain first. For example, dancing has always been a pleasure of mine, but it did not come easy. I had to deal with all the bruises and blisters as well as the pain that comes with stretching. I also stayed up late practicing specific steps until I got them correct. Another example would be the production of Crazy For You (which was performed by the CPA this past weekend). The cast worked so hard and we had rehearsals every night. Even when we did not have rehearsal, we were still in the mirror room practicing our dance routines. There were many different injuries, every single one of us were probably hurt at least one time in this two month rehearsal process. In the end, however, it was worth it because we got to do it for the Lord and have so much fun performing it!

I say all this to say...Is pleasure ever truly a prevention of pain? Because the way I see it, we have to endure the pain first to get to the pleasurable part.

I commented on Claire Richburg's post