By Shazad
I like a nice comfy chair or a cozy sofa at the end of the day. I also like soft pajamas or leisure pants when I’m just puttering around the house with no specific goal in mind. We all enjoy comfort and ease and have been doing so for decades. Today’s middle class has more comfortable lives than some of the very rich people did just 30-50 years ago. We have so many convenient and time-saving tools or services. That’s the big problem with our lives!
On its own, conveniences are a good thing, and having some comfort in life is well deserved for many of us. The problem is we can have “too much of a good thing”. This should be obvious to everyone just like we all know that we can’t just eat as much as we want or spend as much as we want. Comfort seems to be something many people take for granted and feel they ‘deserve’ a lot of as some kind of reward for doing daily chores or merely existing. A certain amount of ease and nice things in our lives is okay as long as we appreciate it and reflect on how blessed we are. The problem is when we take comfort for granted and seek even more comfort all the time. We’ll never have the “perfect” suit or sleep schedule. We will also never have the exact amount of time or money we need. Our energy and other resources will also fluctuate over the days and weeks so it’s not about chasing perfection but rather, chasing an ideal or optimal amount of something. It’s not a “sin” to want some occasional luxuries in life like a nice hotel stay, a birthday feast, or a once-in-a-lifetime purchase of a nice watch or gold jewelry. These can be nice things to aspire to and work hard on to achieve. Most of our lives should include us chasing and adapting to challenges and uncertainty which is what life is about. We should be moving our bodies, stretching our minds, and keeping our emotions in check on a consistent basis to learn, develop, and grow as better human beings. This is what humans have been doing for thousands of years and THIS is what gives life a better meaning. Satisfaction in life comes from doing things well including some Hard Things. It could be a strenuous weekly workout or run. Maybe you finally write that book you have been trying to finish or perhaps it’s that backyard deck you have been meaning to renovate? Whatever your HARD is, make it worthwhile and work on it until it’s done. Don’t just sit in comfort when you’ve done your difficult task. Seek out a new challenge next week, next month or, next year at the latest. Make sure you line up tough things that stretch you but also benefit others when you achieve them. Accomplishing hard things on a regular basis will not only give you mental agility, resilience, and confidence. You’ll literally be getting things done and changing the world for the better by demonstrating what’s possible to those around you.
Here are some tips to get uncomfortable so you can adapt to life:
Take a cold shower up to 30 seconds after your warm shower is done.
Get up 30 minutes earlier each day and do some reading or meditation exercises.
Park your car in the furthest spot from the entrance of the building or home you are going to and walk the distance.
Walk up and down stairs whenever instead of taking the elevator.
Skip a meal and just eat 2 meals with no snacks.
Listen to someone else talk for 15 minutes without interruption and then ask if they have anything else to say for another 15 minutes.
Stand in line or sit on a public transit vehicle without looking at your phone. Just look around you instead.
Go sit in a Sauna (if you are healthy) for 10 minutes and just let your mind experience the heat.
Give a 5-minute talk to a group of new people at your school or work. They must be total strangers to you and you have to look them in the eyes.
Put some heavy things in a backpack and walk around for a few miles with that load on your back.
Find your slightly hard to very hard things and frequently go out of your comfort zone. There’s nothing better than feeling truly alive and grateful once you have achieved something difficult. Make the commitment to challenge yourself often and step away from the cozy chair, the comfy clothes, and the convenient lifestyle so you can truly appreciate these comfortable things even more. You deserve to become much more than just ‘comfortable” so why not pursue your Awesome Life?
Want more Awesome writing from us? Go to this link and order your copy of the Awesome Life book today! Click Here to Buy The Awesome Life Book!