The secret to contentment is in making ourselves uncomfortable.We are never as miserable as when we are unchallenged.
This shouldn’t be news to you, certainly not if you’re reading this on Medium.
Half of the bloggers and creators here lead another life elsewhere, some similar in writing fields, some in completely different areas, with completely different expertise.
What has brought us all here is to be be challenged, the pursuit of the extra-ordinary.
So perhaps I am preaching to the converted.
Alas.
I have spoken elsewhere about the cosseted modern brain. It is without significant discomfort that we end up like this.
We are designed to run and jump, climb trees and solve problems.
We are never as engaged or as alive as we are when we are either pushing our bodies or our minds, or both.
Where It Started For Me
Deep down, I have always known this. I have always tried to push myself (with varying degrees of success) to do something different.
Whether its physical or intellectual stasis, any sort of stagnation is like ants under my skin.
What brought this home to me consciously was a short youtube clip from a Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
In this video, Žižek speaks about happiness being irrelevant.
He said “when you are in a creative endeavour, in that wonderful fever ‘Oh my God-I’m onto something’ and so on, happiness does not enter it. You are ready to suffer”.
This to me, when I watched it about 10 years ago, was a proper lightbulb moment for me.
Where It Has Lead Me
Some people refer to this as a “flow” state.
I have to say, when writing or working on something early in the evening and you look up and look at the clock as see its now 2am, I can’t say I’ve ever regretted the previous hours in that moment.
Maybe regret it the next day when I’m operating on four hours sleep.
Putting myself in this sort of discomfort is so engaging, it doesn’t feel like discomfort at the time.
Physical endeavours are similar but different.
It is my belief that we need physical quests to stay engaged.
Having never run a marathon, I cannot really empathise but I expect the satisfaction crossing the finish line is extra-ordinary.
Our ancestors may have walked for 2 days with hunted game carcass to feed the tribe. These sorts of quests are missing from our lives.
However, whether hunting for an antelope on a savannah or participating in a mud-run, our minds and bodies know no different.
We are running and jumping and climbing like we should.
It is this belief that had me decide to do an Ironman 70.3. And as you can read here, it is causing me quite a lot of stress.
This stress will convert into satisfaction and engagement (if) when I finish it.
Now do not get me wrong, I do sit down and sleep and watch stupid tv shows.
But I do try to keep short, medium and long term goals vaguely in mind and use allow these goals to guide me into that “creative fever”-whatever it is.
It is what has lead me to Medium, to pursue writing that I attempted with a blog previously, only to abandon the idea after two posts.
I encourage you all to pursue discomfort and watch your life change for the better forever.
