Comfort Should Not Be Your Endgame
"Great lives are very rarely created in great comfort" - Jon Acuff
I don't know about you, but sometimes it feels like I'm always going after great comfort. That the sole purpose of my life is to get to a place where I am physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally comfortable. That all my hard work is so I can finally "arrive" to this place where I can stop working so hard, take a deep breath, put on my comfy clothes and be comfortable. My bigger life plans are geared around this belief and my every day also functions by this rule.
When I wake up in the morning one of the first things I do is ask google what the weather's like so I can dress accordingly. I want to be comfortable. I walk down to the kitchen and grab my coffee that I already set up the night before because waking up to a hot cup brings me comfort. Currently, I am sitting in my favorite comfy chair with my favorite comfy blanket enjoying the fact that I didn't have to go into Jury Duty today which left me an entire day that has been cleared of all activity - something that is an extremely rare occurrence in my life. Like, spotting a unicorn, rare. But today, I have my unicorn and the first thing I do with it is get comfortable.
Comfort can be a very good thing. We need it in our lives especially when the going gets tough. But comfort can be abused when it becomes a necessity rather than a prize. I believe comfort is at its best when it is preceded and followed by the uncomfortable. Let me give you a 'for instance'…
When I wake up in the morning on a day like today, I am tempted to plop myself down in front of Netflix. I want to start with comfort. But the thing is, I haven't earned it yet. And for me, once I get there and settle down on that couch it is so hard to get back up. One episode turns into 10 and before I know it I haven't enjoyed any of the comfort but rather spent half the morning feeling guilty for wasting it. On the other hand, if I go out for a run first (or spend time reading/writing), take a shower, and cook a good breakfast, I should be able to enjoy 20 minutes of guilt-free television while I eat. Then when I'm done, I should get up, clean my dishes, and get started on the next "challenge" of my day.
I used to think that comfort was my endgame. In a job, at home, with friends. But I'm starting to realize that I've had it all wrong. Comfort is not the endgame, it's just part of the game. It's a stop along the way to something greater. If we reach comfort and just stay there, we will be missing out on the best parts of life. Can you imagine if every time someone accomplished something great, they just stopped?
Sir Edmund Hillary is credited as being the first person to ever climb Mt. Everest. Along with his Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay, the two men were the first ever to reach the summit. It's very easy to remember one moment of someone's life and ignore everything that came before and after. Reaching that summit didn't happen in one trip. He had numerous expeditions and attempts before that successful one. And then when he finally reached it, did he stop? No! He had many more expeditions to different mountains and then he spent 6 months looking for Yetis. Yes, you heard me right, Yetis. You don't get an awesome dinner anecdote like that without putting yourself out there.
No matter what your goal is in life…whether it's climbing Mt. Everest, reaching the pinnacle of your career, getting to a certain number in your salary so you don’t have to worry as much about money or hitting some type of family goal - "when the kids turn X age, then everything will be easier.." - you need to get it out of your head right now that there is any "end." There's not and when we get focused on that "end", when we think we won't be happy or fulfilled until we reach that comfortable spot, we are missing out on something so much greater. Life happens in the uncomfortable. We grow in the uncomfortable. We become who we are in the uncomfortable. We need it, and so if we stop treating it like a disease and start looking at it like a daily companion, the uncomfortable won't be so uncomfortable anymore.
So get off the couch until you've earned it and then get back out there and look for some yetis. And because I know you're wondering - no, there was no evidence to their existence found. But what a great addition to your resume.
