The Long-Term Comfort of Discomfort

I am writing this article in first person so that you read this in first person as well with the intention of all-inclusiveness. 

What is comfort & what is the discomfort?

In simple terms, comfort is a state of ease where I am stress-free. Discomfort is a state of uneasiness where I may be stressed to a degree which may be low or high at times.

Why stay in discomfort if there is comfort?

This is a good question, comfort sounds like the perfect scenario and it is to some extent but not all the time. I have met people from different walks of life and one key observation was that those people who had every type of comfort were not the happiest. The reason behind this in my understanding is that as a human being I need an enemy. Without this enemy or opponent, life will lack purpose. Comfort tells me that this loop (eat, sleep, party and repeat) is all that there is to live for but that's not true. I am not against comfort but, I am against too much comfort and minimum discomfort.

Story

I have been the heaviest person in the room most of the time not just because of my height but because it was more to do with my lifestyle. There was no medical reason for my obesity but my own eating habits. Those days, I was living full of comfort and there was actually no opponent only until I realised that waking up from bed, walking and staying alert was all becoming more of an effort, not in terms of laziness but actually to get up on my two feet. This is the time when I realised that I have become the opponent to my daily routine and lifestyle. What did I do to overcome? Had to do cardio and weight training which was totally outside of my comfort zone. From being a person who eats but barely moves, I had to become a person who moves more than eats. As a result today I am in much better shape, why? Because I had to get out of my comfort zone not just to survive but to live a better quality of life. This is why discomfort leads to comfort.

Moral of the story

The best way to live a comfortable life is to do at least one thing daily for each body and mind outside of the comfort zone. Look, I will never value something that is sweet until I experience something that is bitter. This bitterness will make even the regular stuff appear sweet. Just observe how sleep quality improves after a hard day of work, that joy is next level. Get out of that comfort zone, then come back to the comfort zone and see how much more comfortable it feels after being through some discomfort. This level of comfort (after being through discomfort) is greater than just normal comfort. The brain and its chemicals have a role to play in this but that´s for another article.

Have a comfortable day! (only after being through a little discomfort, it´s sweeter trust me).

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