Living in a state of discomfort

Everyone wants to live life comfortably. There's a whole industry and marketing on how to make life more comfortable. The idea of comfort, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but there's a danger with comfort that's often overlooked.

Comfort gives a picture of stability and calmness. But at the same time, this stability and calmness comes with a price. A price in which uncertainty and change doesn't have a place within the framework of comfort. And here is the Achilles' Heel of comfort, it is the inability to change, move and to grow organically in life. Comfort ends up being a sanctuary built and created by ourselves against the tide of the world around us. It is a place in which we are able to find stability and the knowledge of knowing what we know is enough and that we can rest comfortably in what we know.

So then, why is being comfortable negative? It isn't in and of itself, but if ever need to navigate change in life, and personal growth in and of itself is a process of continual change, it will rock the stability and comfort level in your life.

Most people and families operate on a level of certainty. We generally call them routines of life or patterns of life. However, the flipside to this is generally known as chaos and a breakdown of structure. I'm not advocating that living in a state of chaos and lack of structure is a good thing, that in itself is very counter productive due to the nature of not navigating with any intentionality or purpose or direction.

Rather I am looking at that in between place of life. The balance of being fully comfortable and fully basking in chaos. This is a very unique place. It's a place in which you haven't fully abandoned comfort and stability but you have jumped off the cliff into the storm of chaos. And here is the unique place where growth and change happens.

It is in the state of discomfort and intentionality that we are able to push toward growth and change. This isn't just within us personally but can be extended toward businesses, organizations and even our own family. In order to move forward and change organically, we have to be willing to step out of our comfort zone. We need to be willing to embrace a level of discomfort and chaos in life. We need a bit of the unknown. And it is within this unknown and discomfort that we find who we are, where we are going and who we can depend on.

It is a unique position in life. It is a posture of allowing what you have built to be destroyed and rebuilt. It is a gamble that the outcome will be better than what you had before. But without this, you will only continue being where you were and who you were before. There would be no change, no growth.

Some of this growth will demand us to give up something or let go of something. And it'll be alright. You're learning to move beyond to something greater.

So the thought and challenge I want to leave with you today is this:

Are you so comfortable and stable that you have ceased to grow and improve? And how are you maneuvering your life so that you can keep growing, improving and changing?