Comfort is one of the most fulfilling and reassuring feelings a human can have. It invites serene pleasure, induces euphoric relaxedness, and has the ability to completely chase our worries away. It’s a cold microbrew at the end of a long day, a favorite cookie that mom makes during the holidays, or that gigantic bowl of macaroni and cheese after a terrible breakup.
Now let’s do an about face.
Comfort is one of the most volatile and discouraging feelings a human can have. It invites complacent behavior, induces satisfaction in being personally lackluster, and has the ability to completely chase our dreams away. It’s living only for Saturday and Sunday week after week, not holding ourselves to a higher standard, or expecting that everything we’ve ever wanted will just magically fall into our laps.
As we can see, comfort can be many things.
When we really think about it, comfort needs to be tactfully and strategically placed in order to eventually become our best. If we over indulge on comfort we will become content, or at least keep convincing ourselves that the job we hate 5 days of the week is ‘the best that we can do.’ If we under indulge on comfort, we will become workaholics, stress freaks, and, eventually, this tendency may result in little to no friendship or companionship.
Just like many other aspects in life, balance here is crucial.
We NEED to make ourselves on uncomfortable on a day-to-day basis in order to move past our comfort zones and safety nets, in order to discard the life we loathe but are afraid to change. It’s about understanding that without this discomfort, it will be difficult to bring the life we dream of in our heads to reality.
If mental barriers hadn’t been broken in mankind’s history, technological advancement would be a foreign concept to all. Without challenging comfort zones, sports records would never be set or broken; without striving to be better, breakthrough performances in movies would be nonexistent; New York Times selling books would never be written; difficulties of socioeconomic constraint would never be questioned or tested; relationships with friends and family would be cookie cutter, mundane, and painfully tedious. The list is endless, my friends.
It is essential that we allot time to revel in our successes and find comfort in a job well done. However, it is critical that we must always expect better in our subsequent performances or else we will we not expand. If we refuse, we will never grow as a result of not making attempts get better or refine our skills each and every day. Until we challenge ourselves to examine and assess the boundaries of our own individual comfort zones, we will forever remain in the cozy box that was built for us when the ultimate goal in life is to build our own.
“If you are not willing to risk, you cannot grow…
…if you cannot grow, you cannot become your best…
…if you cannot become your best, you cannot be happy…
And if you cannot be happy, then what else is there?”
Les Brown
Always Looking Up 