Choose discomfort

There are so many ways to ruin a life.

Drugs. Alcohol.

But there’s one we sometimes forget.

Comfort.

It feels like you’re doing the right thing.

Nothing goes wrong.

Nobody laughs at you.

You don’t fail.

You don’t get rejected.

And slowly, without noticing, your world gets smaller.

You stop trying new things.

Stop meeting new people.

Stop attempting anything you might be bad at.

You become very good at avoiding discomfort.

And very little else.

But think about the things that have made you who you are.

Learning to walk.

Learning to swim.

Making your first friend.

Your first job.

Almost everything that made your life bigger began with something uncomfortable.

And then something extraordinary happened.

You learned.

You adapted.

What once frightened you became familiar.

The thing you were afraid of became something you were capable of doing.

Maybe even something you excel at and enjoy.

Which brings us to today’s lesson.

Do not build your life around avoiding discomfort.

Build your ability to handle it.

Make it a habit of always doing the things that make you uncomfortable it you know they will make you grow.

Speak when you’re nervous.

Tell the truth when it’s difficult.

Learn something that makes you feel stupid.

Complete tough challenges.

And remember that discomfort is not always a warning to stop.

Often it’s a sign that you’re doing something that will make your life better.

And the more used to it you get, the easier everything else gets.

Be sensible.

Prepare.

Protect what matters.

But never confuse being comfortable with living well.

Because the life you want will require you to become someone you are not yet capable of being—until you go through discomfort.

And that transformation will not always feel pleasant.

But life is too short to never learn to walk.

Every step through discomfort opens a wider world to you.

And one day, when you look back across your years, I doubt you’ll be most grateful for the moments when everything was easy.

You’ll remember the things you once thought you couldn’t do.

The doors that opened because you were willing to try.

The courage you practise today becomes the freedom you enjoy tomorrow.