If Your Goal Is Comfort, You’re Selling Yourself Short

What can you hope to accomplish by staring at the same horizons? I’ll go ahead and answer: not much, if anything.

Okay, writing this particular piece was the equivalent of watching Manchester United win today despite their best efforts. Bless their little hearts.

In celebration of their probable loss to Liverpool, I would like to talk about learning. My viewpoint is simple: if you want to grow and thrive in life, you have to study. You have to put in the work. I don’t mean you need to participate in formal schooling (you can if you want as I love taking classes), but you do need to push yourself and explore.

I’ve got 99 problems

It is impossible to solve a problem with a solution you have no idea exists. It is impossible to fill something with what you lack. I used to pray for my cup to runneth over, but I had no water. Death Valley-core ****.

I tend to be hardest on myself. My mind latches on to the things that did not work out, ignores the myriad of sh — stuff that did, and proceeds to cycle through a hell of my own making. In addition to that I end up flabbergasted at how unfulfilling my life is.

That psychiatric ward is looking very good right now — I wonder if I can get the same room.

I’m fortunate that in this lifetime I was born in a place to parents with resources to facilitate my learning. And I owe it to myself to keep pushing that envelope and build on what they began. I found yoga out of a desire to learn more than what my immediate environment has given me. It is through yoga that placed me on the path to obtaining my freedom. The paths of others will look wildly different even if the destination is the same.

You will only be able to perceive something if you have knowledge of it.

I can describe the sun because I can see it, feel it, and watch its effects. If I spent my entire life underground, how can I even begin to conceptualize the stars? You don’t know what you don’t know — but what you do know is a gateway to so many wonders.

Comfort is a trap

Putting my money on the belief that people ultimately wish for freedom makes for a safe bet; putting my money that people will largely chase the easy and comfortable in a mistaken bid for freedom is also a no-brainer. This is not disparagement. I am writing this for myself as well — I needed a swift kick to my perky booty years ago.

People seek comfort because they perceive it as stability. And stability is equated to security — something many, if not all, of us chase. If we are in comfort, it takes a lot of energy to shift out of that space. Frogs swimming about in increasingly warm waters (no for real the planet is cooking us and we are Tweeting through it — this is not condemnation I’m on the former bluebird site, too).

The thing about comfort, however, is that it does not equal freedom. It does not equal fulfillment. It doesn’t even equal the security that we mistake it for.

Yet so many don’t know this! So that is what they pursue and have no clue why they feel stuck. It took me years to reach this point, but I’ll drop it here for free. I was in a place of comfort when I decided to institutionalize myself. And, now, I’m feeling that scratch against the inside of my skull once more — the scratching of unfulfillment.

90s Babies Have Lived This

“Knowledge is Power!” As cringeworthy as this phrase is, it is true. We have failed our children by doing away with afternoon specials. Capitalism has much to answer for.

Anyway! Your next big idea, or passion, could be the result of taking the time to look into a new subject. Perhaps it is finance. Perhaps it is spirituality. Perhaps it is Polish Dance. You honestly can’t know until you look.

I thought moving to Japan would be the solution to all of my problems. Time and distance have shown me that that is not remotely the case; instead, it is a beginning. It is an opportunity and a place to build momentum. It allowed me to experience things completely foreign to me, and those experiences have led me to perceptions I would not have gained otherwise.

Distance may or may not make the heart grow fonder, but it certainly gives it the chance to grow wiser.

I’m still working on a lot of things. I’m still following breadcrumbs down paths that could lead me off a cliff or into Shangri-La. I won’t know until my tippy-toes are right there on the edge. I used to fear that unknown. A part of me still does. Yet, an increasingly bigger voice is thrilled to start the adventure.

After all, what if things go right?

Lesson

If a person has not learned through experiences, and is not cultured, what kind of joy can he or she get out of life?…Thus, the gain in one’s life commensurates with what one knows.

~ Swami Dayananda Saraswati

I may be preaching to a rock star choir, but this is why education is critical to humanity. This is why community is critical. So explore and get a little dirty — who knows what you will see? Growth on the individual level and the collective level is the result of knowledge — no matter how it is received. And knowledge, my dear reader, is meant to be shared.

So, here it is.

If you enjoy my work, why not give me a clap, a follow, or a comment? I’m like a delicate flower — help me grow!

Want to read further insights on self-improvement informed by my years of research into yoga philosophy and other subjects? Subscribe to my newsletter to receive steps and inspiration on transforming yourself and living your best life: Subscribe