Embrace Discomfort
Improve your life by doing things the hard way.
Life is pretty easy, sort of.
We can entertain ourselves with electronics all day. Food and groceries can be delivered with the push of a button. Items can be ordered in a click or two from a website. Even work is going remote. Our homes are usually set to whatever ideal temperature we prefer. Anything is possible and we are able to live at home with barely any effort or discomfort.
Exposing ourselves to the elements is a short-lived experience. The car is a few steps away and once we’re inside, it can be set to the perfect temperature once again. That’s another thing - we sit and drive rather than walk.
Simply put, our bodies have become incredibly comfortable and are no longer being physically stressed. But they should be. The lack of this discomfort is a cause of so many health issues today.
History
Throughout history, humans needed to actively seek out comfort. Survival was not always easy - it had to be earned. Sitting around like we do today just wasn’t possible because they would be risking their lives to all sorts of dangers. These humans were forced to find food, protect themselves from animals, and build shelter. They had to start fires and bundle up in animal furs to stay warm.
None of these apply anymore and immediate survival is not an issue. Even the tiniest of problems like sweating in the heat or shivering in the cold have been dealt with. Unless we’re outdoors, this is not a concern. Past humans moved all day and it was part of life. Today we move so little that when we finally do, it has a name: exercise.
Hunting and foraging were replaced with the convenience of a store or restaurant to quickly satisfy hunger. We live in an age of abundance where anything can be eaten at anytime. Many of us don’t even eat because we’re truly hungry - we do it because the food is delicious and gives a nice dopamine boost.
Physical stress is now easily avoided. So much of life is made convenient and comfortable that even the smallest discomfort can be hard on us. Even a good portion of jobs are comfortable like office jobs. What exactly do we do that stresses us? Gymgoers, construction workers, athletes, and a handful of others experience stress but that’s about it.
Most difficult tasks have ceased to exist for the average person, and it’s ruining us.
Modern Illness
People are making more money than ever. Technology is constantly improving. Medical care is keeping us alive longer. Yet ironically our health is getting worse with people suffering more heart disease, obesity, anxiety, depression, and more. This is no thanks to modern-day comfort.
Everyday movement is necessary for a healthy body and brain. Nutrient-dense foods are necessary to function properly and protect us from illness. Most people do the opposite. It’s easier to gorge on greasy seed oil-containing junk food and stimulate your brain with constant novelty from electronic screens, rather than make something healthy and going outside; not to mention we’re getting less sun and Vitamin D than ever before in history.
Continue this lifestyle and poor health is inevitable.
The real question is: why are so many people hooked on these lifestyles? What makes it so hard to adopt healthy patterns?
Modern stress (different from what we experienced long ago) is the likely cause. Past stress was dealt with immediate survival but today it’s more mental, caused by the demands of society. People have to constantly focus on good grades, finding the right job, being a good employee, traffic, meetings, promotions, and other things that don’t matter. I mean they do matter because we need money to live and enjoy life, but this type of grind culture is not how humans were meant to be all the time. Everyone is caught up in the rat race, overwhelmed and too busy worrying about where things are headed.
And how do they counter it? By making themselves feel good with junk food and entertainment. To them, it’s an easy dose of happiness in a miserable society.
The Loop
School and work are stressful. People are treated like robots that must always be working, and they feel trapped. Study all semester because you have lots of tests. Do badly and your GPA will go down, meaning you won’t have a good career.
Done with school and have a job? Be a good worker or get fired. Wake up early and drive through traffic, sit in a desk all day with little movement or deal with rude customers, then drive through traffic on the way home.
Once we’re home, the last thing we care about is being even more uncomfortable so we eat junk food and entertain ourselves. It’s a nice relief from the stressful day. Then it starts again the next day and we pray for the weekend where we can go all-out with our harmful activities. It’s an endless loop. We feel bad, treat ourselves to feel good temporarily, feel bad again, and so on. Keep going and our health will start to decline.
Psychologist Mark Seery looked into an idea he called toughening. He did a study with 2,500 people of various ages and made them take surveys talking about stress and adversity in their lives.
The results showed those who had experienced some adversity in their lives had higher levels of life satisfaction, fewer physical or psychological symptoms, increased pain tolerance, and were even less likely to use prescription pain meds. They were even better at dealing with new stressors not experienced before.
As the graph shows, there is an optimal amount of stress needed for improved resilience. Too much will have the opposite effect so don’t overdo it - challenge yourself without letting it destroy you.
More information here.
Be Uncomfortable
To improve, be stressed in a classic way. How?
Get cold. Don’t let it keep you from going out - bundle up and embrace it. Exposure to the cold can help you live longer and is a great stimulant, plus your tolerance to it will increase. A Japanese purification ritual known as misogi involves submerging yourself under an icy waterfall. It helps achieve the state of sumikiri - sharpness of body and mind. On the flip side, you should sweat and expose yourself to the summer heat too.
Go sprinting. It’s good for the body, brain, longevity, focus, depression, and more. Walking should be done regularly, but sometimes a good sprint gives a helpful boost. Park far away from your destination because it forces you to walk more. Take the stairs instead of an elevator. You get the idea.
Lift heavy. Outside of a handful of jobs, we don’t need to lift anymore. Go to the gym if you have to. Carry a basket at the grocery store instead of pushing a shopping cart. Get your muscles working in whatever way you can.
Avoid eating. If you aren’t hungry and your stomach is not growling, there’s no point. Give your digestive system a break. Fasting is beneficial and can heal your gut (known as your second brain) which can improve many physical and mental illnesses. It’s also great for weight loss. Try the 16:8 method = 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating.
Be bored. Occasionally do nothing, or do what you normally might find unexciting. In the smartphone era, we’re connected 24/7 to an endless stream of entertainment and it’s hurting us. Humans never dealt with this before. Read a book. Start a journal. Meditate. This will help restore your focus and attention. Your brain is like a muscle and should be trained.
Don’t let small things defeat you. Overcoming them will make you stronger, happier, and better able to deal with future stress. Live a slightly more difficult life to experience a transformation. Hard things will become easier, expanding your comfort zone and elevating you to a level many have not reached.
“Do what is easy and your life will be hard. Do what is hard and your life will be easy.” - Les Brown
Embrace it.