The Comfort Myth
Comfort comes in many shapes or forms:
- A warm blanket.
- A Netflix series.
- A snooze button on the alarm.
- ‘Comfort’ food.
The lure of comfort is omnipresent. But giving in to that lure continuously, is no recipe for a happy life.
To the contrary: Doing what is comfortable all the time is a ticket to misery.
1. Discomfort is required for growth
Name everything worth having: Happiness. A great relationship with a partner. A healthy body. A fulfilling career.
All of these things are there for the taking for you. But all of these things are behind barbed wires full of discomfort.
Only few people are willing enough to forego comfort – risk a bloody hand – and passionately reach for what they want.
It’s also the people that we most admire and look up to. It’s the people that we tell stories about, long after they’re gone.
Because the majority of us is afraid of any sort of mental and physical hardship. We believe whole-heartedly in the fantasy that living in a cocoon of comfort will give us a pleasurable life.
When the reality could not be further from that belief. The reality is that humans thrive under hardship, under challenge and mental discomfort.
Because as the saying goes:
2. It’s not about the destination. It’s about the person you become.
The person you get formed into on your quest through discomfort.
And the person you get formed into has many attractive qualities which are easily apparent: But first and foremost, the person you get formed into possesses the ability to be comfortable being uncomfortable.