CLICK HERE TO GET A PDF COPY OF THIS POST >>
LIKE ANY ADDICTION, COMFORT REQUIRES PAIN TO BREAK
Last week, I was talking with someone about my self-development routines. I explained to them how I wake up at 5.30am every morning, workout, meditate, journal, and then get to work . I also told them how I try to run at least 3 miles every other day, rain or shine. My friend grimaced and said, “You must be addicted to pain!” It wasn’t the first time I had heard an opinion similar to this. It always puzzled me to hear it. Isn’t strange how one person’s journey and habits to improve their mind and body can be so abhorrent to another. Has anyone ever said that to you since starting your self-development journey? Or perhaps you’ve even thought that about someone else? I started thinking about what that person said. Although I’ve heard it before, for some reason it started my mind moving. Am I really trying to just make things difficult or more arduous for myself? After a while I began to think about why a person would make that statement. I suppose I could look at other’s habits and maybe say the same.THE COMFORT ADDICTION
There is a challenge for the doubters and the people who don’t understand why others willingly push themselves into the uncomfort zone. Think of people like David Goggins, sometimes called ‘the hardest man alive’, who pushed himself through ultramarathons. Events where people have died! He’d do things like compression tape his ankles and ignore the excruciating pain of stress fractures. That is extreme in anyone’s judgement! People to give up their comfort addiction and go through pain understand there’s something far greater that awaits them on the other side. It doesn’t have to be running races with painful stress fractures in your ankles. It can be as simple a just getting up an hour early in the morning — if that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Seth Godin writes: “Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you’re doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they are hiding out in the comfort zone. When you’re uncomfortable, action leads to success.”
8 replies to "The Cozy Comfort Addiction"
Link to challenges can be [found here](http://www.30figured.com/category/challenges/).
What if I’m always feeling miserable because I feel like I’m constantly pushing myself outside of my comfort zone and it exhausts me?
There has to be some moderation. I’m guilty of this occasionally, so you just have to give yourself some time to recharge and slow things down a little. I guess it’s about balance and joy – not self -punishment
Oh, I think this is just an internal problem then, meaning I feel uncomfortable in situations where I should be comfortable, because I have trouble balancing the basics so I would say I don’t do things enough, so I should work on my attitude.
I think it’s good to push yourself out of your comfort zone but take small steps to avoid burnout. Award yourself for what others may perceive as small achievements but to you took a lot of courage and determination. Speaking in front of 5000 may be a challenge for one person. Yet speaking in front of a small group may equally be a challenge for another. The fact is both people had to push themselves equally and should award themselves equally. Good luck!
Thanks!! That’s a nice way to look at it.
Well there’s a certain amount of pain in being comfortable that you just get used to and your not addicted to pain when you improve yourself you just go through the “pain period” when you first learn something new.
When I was fat girls didn’t approach me, my feet hurt from physical activity, I couldn’t shop at places like H & M because my waist was to big, and I didnt want to take my shirt off because I hated the way my body looked. I was in pain I just got used to it or comfortable.
When I tried to change it was painful and time consuming. Waking up everyday to get on a bike for a hour long cycling class. Not being able to breath and being out of breath minutes into an exercise. It sucked ass honestly. I kept pushing through it just knowing I had a goal in mind of what I wanted to look like and what I wanted to accomplish.
Year and half later after I lost the fat and picked up weightlifting going through the same pain of teaching my body something different. My body and mind had changed. I was buff for the first time in my life and I loved exercise. I couldn’t live without it now and the feeling of hitting a PR on a exercise or moving up in weight feels like what it use to feel like to eat a half dozen sprinkle donuts felt like back than. I had a married woman hit on me in the gym and tell me her husband wasn’t home and I could come over. Woman and guys directly complimenting my physique and asking if I would work out with them. The feeling of pride when saw someone that I haven’t seen me in a while looks in awe and ask me what I did to make such a drastic change. I can shop at H & M and dont have to order pants online. Its not painful once you get used to and get to your goals.
I picked up a few habits that were really hard and cost my pain at first but now bring me so much joy and happiness in my life things like weightlifting, Nofap, not smoking, cleaning up, improving my study habits, reading, and improving my social skills. These things all cost me a great deal of pain but if I had to do it all over again, I just would of done them sooner.