Miserable Redemption

I have had something on my mind for a while. And when that sort of thing happens, I let it marinate. I consider it to be true or not, and though I feel I have given this one good effort within objective consideration, I have come to a conclusion.
This is also sparked by my own interactions with individuals having hard times, as well as my own experiences.
The phrase which I am willing to establish is this:

Misery is not redemptive.

Like many others, I have heard the phrase 'Godly sorrow' as a definition of a perspective meant to drive to the repentance process. It also seems that this concept is often mutated into the thought that misery is.. well... somehow redemptive.
If we feel that somehow our self-inflicted misery is going to bring us peace and/or salvation, we may very well be forgetting that it is not our efforts that bring redemption, but Somebody else's.
Now, you are not a failure for being miserable. Misery or sorrow can be an effective tool. I have come up with a comparison that seems to make sense.

Archaeology. 

No I am not even an amateur archaeologist, so please pardon any failure in accurate description.

Let's compare sorrow to an excavator.
It can be extremely helpful in making significant progress in discovering what a site is, and where that area of interest really lies.
However, once portions or even evidences of the site are revealed, the excavator must be moved out of the way and turned off.
It is at this point where increasingly delicate and refined tools must then be employed. If the proper tool for a discovery is a brush or a small hand tool, that point of the process requires deliberate, careful action.
If instead, as we come across a relic, we decide to hop in the driver's seat of the excavator and go after a fossilized feather, our discovery becomes a tragedy. It is at this time, where our sorrow, which should have been a great value to us, has now become a miserable tragedy. Destroying what should have been revealed treasure.
Let's be more gentle with ourselves, and not be afraid to let go of misery. You may even need to reject the perspective of a loved one who feels that you have not repented because you are not in constant misery.
And if you have spent too much time in the driver's seat, of course hope is not lost. If you feel as though you are a broken down and rusted excavator buried in a pile of broken bones, pots and buildings, you need to google Kintsugi right now. I will leave that to you, because this article is deliberately intent on rejecting misery-based-redemption as truth.