Don’t Sh*t On Comfort

Please stop droning on about growth from being uncomfortable.

Stop it already, my self-help brothers and sisters.

We get it.

Trials in life can make us stronger, more durable, and the next Stephen Hawking or Michael J. Fox.

Let me be clear, I love Michael Fox; he inspires me to goose pimples. I’ve read his books and watched his incredible documentary, ‘Still’ and you should too if you are really into being genuinely inspired.

As for Hawking, it really goes without saying, doesn’t it?

Christopher Reeve, anyone?

Yes, the list goes on and on, and I myself am no stranger to challenge with having the MS and all.

But let me be perfectly clear….

it sucks ass!

Have I grown as a person and learned invaluable lessons about myself from my burden?

Yes.

Would I trade all of those invaluable lessons away for health and wellness?

Um….YES!

You may find an article where I indicated the opposite. I reserve the right to change my mind so bugger off – respectfully.

Let’s not blind ourselves with romanticism here my friends. Disease is shit, pain sucks, and I’m frankly tired of articles about growth from being uncomfortable.

If you want to imposition yourselves with trials and tribulations and make each day an uncomfortable shit show, have at it. Whatever floats your boat, but the math equation is not as simple as some would have you believe.

Challenge does not always equal growth whether you have the “proper” mindset or not.

Sometimes challenges and discomfort lead to you being face down in the dirt.

I have a scar on my skull to prove it.

Temper your ideas about personal growth. Everything is about balance and if you don’t believe me, consider our ancestors that were eaten by large fanged beasts.

Life will throw all kinds of challenges your way.

I promise.

You don’t need to deliberately create your own shit show so that you have material for your lectures and books.

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?

Meh…

Maybe. Sometimes.

And that my friends is just life as we know it, and that’s okay.

Let’s stop trying to make people believe they suck for being down about their lives. It’s not helpful, and it’s self-serving, typically.

Everyone has a right to a good cry, and “woe is me” for a minute. It’s part of the process of getting on with it, and what your “getting on with it” is, may not look like others, so shut up.

If there is anything I’ve learned from being married for 18 years it’s to know when to shut up. Let them feel, and process and talk without your big mouth jumping in and acting like your the savior or guru.

SHUT. UP.

Full disclosure, I still do this to my wife occasionally. I am, if nothing else, a hypocrite.

Most of us know we can only go on groveling in self-pity for so long. We instinctively know and comprehend that we have to get on with life at some point. We don’t need your annoying, boring, and cliched words; we need your thereness.

Just be there if you care, and if you don’t, get to steppin’ on down the road.

Yes, some people struggle with getting on with life and maybe need a little extra encouragement and maybe a “pro” to step in and help them ditch the self-defeating mind habits.

Awesome.

I can tell you what is supremely annoying. Having a chronic condition that can drop you in a heartbeat and hearing some able-body lecture you on how to be a badass.

How about some growth from me delivering a straight right square in your ballbagus, Mr. Navy Seal?

There have been times when a smidge of self-care would have been better than me falling down a hill to prove MS can’t beat me.

Balance, man.

Calculated risk? Pushing harder?

Of course.

It can be fucking amazing what the mind and body can overcome. There are countless examples of it. I encourage self-challenge but discourage dumbness.

I seem frustrated a bit, don’t I?

I am a bit, because sometimes I have days of relentless spasticity and shooting electrical pains in my sacrum – that’s Latin for the top of my ass crack.

On these days, when I read about the importance of deliberate discomfort on here, I think “stick a hot poker up your ass.”

What I would give for some comfort on days like these.

By the way, for you preachers of “discomfort is the only way to grow in your career” types…

Not so sure.

By far, my best days at work are when I feel light, loose, easy and comfortable. When I’m like this I’m much sharper, present and aware. Staff morale is better and our agency overall just feels better.

So what do you think of that, author of Uncomfortable?

Here is wishing you all lives of being loose, and easy, with a healthy dash of lightness of being, both physically and emotionally.

I submit that these qualities will benefit you, and the world, much more than throwing yourself off a cliff or overcoming your public speaking fears.

Here is to balance, with a healthy appreciation for comfort!

Cheers!

Thanks for your consideration and tolerating my piss and vinegar.