The Case Against Comfort

Photo by Mattia Cioni on Unsplash

Comfort seems to be an ever-present desire in our culture and minds. On travel, people vlog about how comfortable their first-class seats are. If we watch any amount of television we are reminded about how comfortable a new sedan is, we are told what can we do to make our shoes comfortable, and we are reminded of how much comfort we will have on our hotel room in our next business trip or vacation. And the list keeps on going. We want to have a comfortable job, comfortable houses, and relationships with whom to have pleasant conversations.

I will argue here that nothing worth having deserves comfort as the ultimate reward. Sure, I’m not planning to add pebbles to my shoes before my next run or search for the most turbulent airline route flown by the jet with seats with the least legroom before my next trip to determine my choice for my vacation destination. But the point being is that comfort, as much as the comfort of a warm bed helps to our sleep, when excessive, dulls our perception of life and the present to the point in which it makes it hard to be perceived.

Comfort in writing

As writers, we know how comfortable is not to write, forget we have the urge to express ourselves, give the ideas to the world, not calling them our own anymore. This comfort comes from the fear of facing our anxieties and fears: Will our stories be liked…