If Comfort is Your Goal, It Will Also Be Your Prison
Strive to be uncomfortable and knock down the walls that are limiting your move to a better you
I was talking to a fitness coach over coffee recently about one of my favorite subjects — ultra-running. He said, out of the blue, “People who make comfort the goal make it their prison.” I’m not sure if that is exactly what he said, but the thought kept rolling through my head.
I’d go for a run early in the morning in the cold darkness, and this thought would drift into my mind as I ran.
I’d be running intervals on the track, and like a freight train, the whole “comfort becomes your prison” mantra would slam into my mind.
As I ran hill repeats and pushed myself to complete the goal I had set, I kept thinking back on ways I was making comfort my goal and whether that was becoming my prison.
Knowing this wouldn’t go away, I decided to dig deeper into the concept.
As an ultra-runner, I have become more in tune with the “get comfortable with uncomfortable” mantra. However, even that statement makes comfortableness the goal rather than something much higher.
The First Step is to Get Comfortable with Uncomfortable
“Somewhere along the line, we seem to have confused comfort with happiness.” Dean Karnazes, author of Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner
I was running Cape Fear 24 Hour Endurance Race in 2021. During the night, I began running with a runner from Virginia Beach who I respect a lot because he is overcoming the debilitating disease of multiple sclerosis and continues to run with a weighted-down stroller to give him extra balance.
As we were running, I asked him what kept him running so strongly.
I don’t remember precisely what he said and didn’t write it down. But Thomas said something along the lines, “I’ve grown comfortable with being uncomfortable to the point that comfortable is an odd feeling now.”
Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable takes the first logical step of stepping out of our comfort zone, but more importantly, stepping out of our desire for comfort.
Karnazes is one of my favorite ultra-marathon runners, not because he is a constant winner but because he is willing to take on challenges that continue to press him into the uncomfortable zone.
I was listening to For the Long Run podcast with Jonathan Leavitt Episode 197 with Leavitt’s interview with Karnazes, and I got stuck on the concept of “magic in misery” and how it is true that endurance runners have embraced this culture of seeking the uncomfortable.
As we begin to step out of our desire for comfort, the uncomfortable becomes embraceable.
As we begin to embrace the uncomfortable, perhaps we will find ourselves doing more uncommon things one day.
Jerry Rice, Hall of Fame American football wide receiver, once said, “Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I will do what others can’t.”
That is not an arrogant or boastful statement. That is a statement from somebody willing to become comfortable with the uncomfortable to accomplish their dreams.
The Pandemic Should Have Taught Us That Comfort is a Prison
There are so many things we should be learning from this pandemic. Very little of them have to do with what the bureaucrats and politicians are trying to force on us.
We, as societies worldwide, have sought comfort and entertainment. We have embraced smartphones, social media, and non-stop access to information and entertainment.
In a word, what we’ve done is embrace comfort, and that comfort has locked us in a prison of our own making.
This comfort prison we are locked in keeps us from becoming the best version of ourselves possible and limits our dreams, thinking, and creativity.
In the running community, we see people attempt longer and longer distances, so perhaps the pandemic has been a breakthrough for runners getting out of the comfort prison.
That is the exception instead of the norm, though, which presents a problem we should all strive to fix. We should be asking ourselves a series of questions to ensure we are not making comfort our prison.
Questions That Help You Make the Embrace the Uncomfortable
In my short life on this round orb we call earth, I have found that when I ask myself tough questions, I make excellent progress toward being a better version of myself.
Perhaps asking yourself these questions will help you embrace the uncomfortable and break out of the prison called comfort.
- When was the last time I did something that made me a little uncomfortable, perhaps even timid or a little afraid?
- Where do I find myself falling into the same old routine? Wake up, have coffee, eat breakfast, read a little, go to work, come home, eat, watch something mindless, go to sleep and then get up and do the same the next day?
- Why do I feel uncomfortable breaking the routine? Am I unsure of what I will find if I do something different?
- Do I find myself doing what friends, the government, doctors, etc., tell me to do most of the time? How often do I listen to all the voices telling me what to do and ignore their suggestions?
- How often do I find myself doing something new or even outrageous? When was the last time I did something that would shock my family and friends, like go for a ten-mile run?
- Do I want to continue doing what is comfortable, or am I ready to change and embrace the uncomfortable?
That final question will be the most difficult. When you finally get to a point where continuing the comfortable is more uncomfortable than embracing the uncomfortable, you may find yourself stepping outside your routine and attempting big things.
If we had been created to live life doing the comfortable, we would have never been designed with amazingly creative, intelligent, and persistent minds.
Embrace the uncomfortable and embrace a whole new you!
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If you enjoy what Mike Horner writes and would like to see more of what he does, use this link to explore the Living an Ultra Life podcast, see some of the amazing places Mike is blessed to run on Instagram or find his articles all in one place by going here: https://linktr.ee/LivingAnUltraLife