Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Life

In the book The Comfort Crisis Michael Easter writes: “In the modern world, as we experience fewer problems, we don’t become more satisfied. We just lower our threshold for what we consider a problem.” Every time we are introduced to a new comfort or convenience, all of what used to make us comfortable soon becomes unacceptable. What passes for comfortable today is uncomfortable tomorrow.

In order to overcome this comfort crisis, you need to reframe how you interpret discipline in your life. Discipline doesn‘t limit or narrow your choices in life. Working on discipline in any area actually increases your freedom.

The more disciplined you are with exercise, the more freedom you have to explore the world. The more discipline you have with your spiritual life, the more access you have to meaning and inspiration. The more discipline you have in your work, the more options you’ll have in the future.

Here are four ideas from The Comfort Crisis that will help you embrace what makes you uncomfortable and enable you to grow.

Challenge Yourself.

“We are living progressively sheltered, sterile, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged, safety-netted lives. Modern humans may have an unmet need to do what’s truly difficult for us. New research shows that depression, anxiety and feeling like you don’t belong can be linked to being untested.”

What are you mentally and spiritually willing to put yourself through to become a better person? What are you avoiding solely because you know it will be difficult? The discipline to do hard things today makes life easier tomorrow.

Step Back from Compulsive Activity.

“Western laziness consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time at all to confront the real issues. If we look into our lives, we will see clearly how many unimportant tasks, so-called ‘responsibilities’ accumulate to fill them up. Going on as we do, obsessively trying to improve our conditions, can become an end in itself and a pointless distraction.”

The inability to tolerate boredom may be leading to near-crisis levels of collective mental fatigue. It’s exhausting to constantly need to entertain yourself. It is exhausting to not be able to tolerate sitting with your own thoughts.

Take a moment to pause each day. Observe your own thoughts without judging them. The discipline to reflect on your life can give you the insight you need to truly plan for tomorrow.

Become Aware of ‘Checklist’ Living.

“We can live life by fulfilling a checklist. I need to get a good wife or husband, then I get a good car, then I get a house, then I get a promotion, then I get a better car and a better house and I make a name for myself and then… But this plan will never materialize perfectly. And even if it does, then what? You don’t settle, you add more items to the checklist. It is the nature of desire to get one thing and immediately want the next thing.”

Life is so much more than a series of checklists. There are so many opportunities for meaning and connection. But you need to develop the discipline to question your never-ending goals and desires. Will you ever feel like you have enough? Will that next purchase or goal really satisfy you? The discipline to know that you truly have what you need right now allows you to pursue the goals and dreams that ultimately matter most to you.

Reframe Obstacles as Stepping Stones.

“We’ve now deteriorated from helicopter parenting to snowplow parenting. These parents violently force any and all obstacles out of their child’s path. Preventing kids from exploring their edges is largely thought to be the cause of the abnormally high and growing rates of anxiety and depression in young people.”

In today’s world, obstacles are viewed as a block to success. You want to clear them out of your life and your children’s lives. But facing obstacles strengthens you and helps you build resilience that you need for the future.

Use discipline to reframe how you see obstacles. See them as springboards for success and opportunities for growth. Allow your children to struggle with their obstacles so that they feel competent to face their own challenges. The discipline to welcome and face obstacles gives you the ability to face the unknown challenges in your future.

Marathon runners are often asked: How can you possibly run 26.2 miles? The truth is that you can’t wake up one day and just decide to run without stopping for the next four hours. But if for six months you get up every day and run just a little bit more, you will eventually have the stamina to run further than you ever could have imagined.

The discipline to be uncomfortable today gives you freedom tomorrow. You can’t cover the distance all at once, but you can do what’s hard today. And tomorrow, you will have the freedom to go beyond who you thought you could become.

Embrace the discomfort today to become the person you want to be tomorrow.