It is usually said : " I am paying " even more, it is associated with suffering, as if it was a terrible, evident, punishment, and that is far from the truth. Karma is not punishment, Karma can't be paid. The universe is not a system that negotiates with joy, happiness or sorrow.
Nothing of that is true. There is not a God who demands to be paid with our blood or the blood of our loved ones. God is Love, Mercy,  Compassion, Forgiveness. And Karma is deeply the consequences of our actions. And the need of overcoming, transcending, of improving them, is logical. It does not mean to have successive pains or sickness, in order to pay with sacrifice the action of a previous wrong conduct...continuation>