Meaning in Discomfort

After an energetic start, my blog has been on a nine month hiatus. I started writing and then stopped immediately. I was so enthusiastic about this new project and yet the thought of actually pursuing it made me uncomfortable and apprehensive. It took me awhile to even ask myself the question: why am I procrastinating here?

I am not an avid user of social media (this statement might sound doubtful after my previous post, but it is true). The thought of putting my writing and opinions on the World Wide Web for everyone to see and (yikes!) publicly critique, was nerve wracking.

My response to discomfort, not only with respect to blogging, but in general (including life changes I want to make, work assignments where I don't know where to start, and confronting others for difficult conversations) is usually the same - avoidance. Pushing yourself can be scary. There is the possibility of failure, criticism, and the lingering self-doubt of whether you're good enough. If you don't try, these possibilities never have the opportunity to come to fruition, right? Wrong! While the result of failure from the action never has the chance to occur, the failure to take action is very real and the thoughts associated with knowing that you haven't even had the courage to try can be really defeating. This has been my experience.


Conversely, it is those moments when I face and tackle discomfort, in which the most amazing things happen and I discover: (a) I'm better at doing X than I thought I was, (b) what's scary is the unknown, and once I make it known by taking action, it's not so scary or bad, and (c) I feel great for having taken a chance on myself. Even if the result is not as ideal as desired, just putting in the effort produces an endorphin reward (it's happening right now!).

I was reading an article in Men's Journal, Laird Hamilton Says: Make Yourself Uncomfortable. The article discusses how putting your body into discomfort can help you become a better athlete. "What separates great athletes from mediocre ones isn’t only talent and training — it’s also how well they can handle discomfort." Reading the article, I couldn't help but think this is also what separates highly accomplished people from the rest of us. Those who can tackle new challenges, stresses and discomforts certainly fair better in life than those who don't. Perhaps the experience of discomfort means that there is an area in your life where you have room to grow. Perhaps it means the exact opposite of our natural inclination of flight - the cause of discomfort is something you need to face.

So alas, I have decided to ignore my ego and apprehension and to follow my intuition to pursue this blog. No more procrastination (although cleaning my closet can probably wait one more night).