Discomfort

The importance of discomfort is very real and very difficult to embrace. Most of us identify it as a negative interaction of various proportions. I recently wrote an article talking about morality and consciousness. In the article, I described the truth about the human ability to choose between simple right and wrong. The bottom line of the article was that even if it were difficult to make the right choice, you would be accountable and responsible for what it is that you select.

Most people find it incredibly difficult at times to make the right choice in their life because it’s not a popular thing to do. If everyone else is doing bad, wrong, or going wayward, why should you do the right thing and how much of a difference is it going to make if you do what everybody else is doing?

Realize you don’t get a pass because of the choices of the masses. People move too fast and don’t consider consequences, yet they will have to answer regardless of how severe the consequences will be.

Many of us just want that microwave satisfaction, and I want it too, but as you get older, slower, and seemingly have more to lose (in a sense of speaking…trust, respectability, etc.) you realize how important it is or isn’t, and you decide accordingly.

If you have done a lot of foolishness, or if you have gotten away with a lot of foolishness, the thrill may be gone. You may have answered for your indiscretions, or you may realize that it’s just a matter of time before things catch up with you.

Without wisdom or experience, nothing seems to be risky. There are several lessons in going against the grain or doing what’s right. Someone once told me, “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when it’s obvious you were meant to standout.” I was like, whoa! I got that, but I wasn’t ready for it. After digesting those words and letting them marinate, I realized that those words fit to my true nature. Although I always wanted to fit in, I don’t think I ever did as a teen and, maybe even, now. I learned how to embrace being an outcast, oddball, square, or simply put, being different.

I also learned that the feeling of discomfort was like an internal alarm warning me to be cautious. In some instances, it can simply mean that it’s time to remove myself from my current environment. It’s so much easier and so much more comfortable to blend in versus to stand out. Then you don’t have to acknowledge anything openly because the person next to you is probably doing the same thing that everyone else is doing.

In most cases, being uncomfortable is about growth. When you find it’s time to learn a new skill or be in an environment that’s uncomfortable, you are positioning yourself to later extract something from that experience. Thus, embrace discomfort, and embrace new learning.

Exercise:

List or talk about what areas you feel discomfort in. Whatever that means to you, I’d like for you to count or list the various ways that you have felt discomfort. Was it not fitting in or was it something that happened at a particular stage in life?

Did something happen in your life, which caused you to change (people, places, or things)? Remember this is your own personal account, and it’s for you to measure where you were compared to where you are now.

This exercise will also show you how you can grow further as you compare this list or story to where you say you want to be.

From my best selling book: Radiate the Brain & Change the Game!