If You Want To Grow, Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

Everything starts with a first time.

The first time you crawl as a baby, the first time you take a step without falling and the first time you say a recognizable word. All of these sort of happened without our clear conscious. We just did what we needed to do for ourselves in order to grow.

And then, as we grew older we became more and more conscious of our surroundings and of our own behavior.

I can confidently say on behalf of most people that your teen years are the most awkward and uncomfortable of all the phases someone has to go through in their lifetime. We all fell in love for the first time, with the typical butterflies fluttering about in our stomach and the excited but nerve-wracking feeling that came with it. That first kiss which you will never forget for all the good or wrong reasons, just like the first time you had sex. Nothing is set in stone yet during this period, so trying new things played a big part in helping us grow up into the person we are aspiring to be one day.

Little by little, these ”firsts” become less frequent but when something comes around for the first time, it’s more of a big deal than before.

It comes with more consequences, risks, and responsibilities.

Like a career change, ending a long-term relationship, ending a long-term friendship, traveling around the world without a stable income, bungee jumping, swimming with sharks, moving to another country, choosing to believe in another religion over the years, participating in a talent show and more of these things. I intentionally do not mention things as marriage, having children and buying a house, because, despite the risks, these are things that are viewed as ”normal” to do at a certain age.

Therefore, anything that differs from the norm and has the slightest possibility of embarrassing you or is considered out of character just adds more pressure. In many instances, we become too cautious to experience any more new things. We restrain, ignore, and dismiss these experiences to minimize risks, to uphold the image we have created of ourselves over the years and to stabilize our life by repeatedly doing the same thing over and over. Thus, missing out on the chances that make the most of our lives.

Get comfortable being uncomfortable.

Staying in our comfort zone has never felt better, believe me, I know. Still, doing things outside of our comfort zone makes our hearts beat faster and our senses sharper. It makes us more intelligent and grateful, for we find out that the horizon is just an illusion. The sky and the ground never meet, because they simply go beyond the vanishing point. Start to view your experiences like a horizon. The more you experience and walk further towards the horizon, the more you realize that you will never see the end of it. The beauty of it all is that there is no ending to your life’s experiences unless you limit yourself by deciding to remain in your comfort zone.

Don’t get comfortable being too comfortable.

Get comfortable being uncomfortable instead.