Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable
This is a new and fascinating challenge.
Walking my own talk isn’t easy.
Despite being a champion for mindfulness, conscious reality creation, and sharing my Pathwalking philosophy every week – I’m not always good at practicing what I share.
There are all sorts of reasons behind this. Please note – I am making no excuses here. This is an honest evaluation of how I don’t always walk my talk.
I can be easily distracted. I know ADHD is a serious problem, and I have never been diagnosed as such. But I refer to my issue as ADOS – Attention Deficit Ooooooooooo, Shiny!
For example – I’ve now interrupted working on this post to watch the new trailer for Ashoka – 3 times. Like, wow am I excited for this new Star Wars show. But – distraction.
Staying on task is an issue. Another is that I lose track of time scrolling through social media, pausing to check email, and other pointless, wasteful taxes on my focus.
Then – I allow myself to get caught up in the hype for things like Prime Days – hey, I can save money and/or get credit if I be a good consumer and buy – what? Is there something I genuinely need currently, or do I just want to buy because of the hype?
The point of this is that I am not as mindful of my thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions as I should be. Or more specifically – as I desire to be. Because who makes the rules about “should” and “shouldn’t” when it comes to me and my life choices?
That would be me.
So how do I address this and improve my work?
Recognize and acknowledge the heart of the matter
Do you like being comfortable? Soft clothing, a good temperature to the air, a full belly, or anything else that feels – tangibly or intangibly – comfortable?
I know I do. And while the tangible is sometimes easy to quantify, it’s the intangibles that deserve more consideration.
What does that even mean? Intangibles cannot be seen. They just are. And they are usually impressions and attitudes constructed by thoughts, feelings, and intentions.
In this instance, the attitude/impression I am recognizing is comfort.
Not in the sense of being cozy and literally comfortable – but in the sense of familiarity and perceived stability. This is how it is, has been, and is being. Why change it?
The trouble is – comfort and comfort zones – are a misnomer. It’s more familiarity, presumed stability, and understanding than comfort itself. There’s a sense of stable comfort born of feeling like you shouldn’t rock the boat, lest you cause discomfort.
Which is, again, not about being uncomfortable. The reality is that this is about being uncertain.
Stability and familiarity are in many ways the opposites of uncertainty. But as they get tied to comfort, uncertainty of the unknown is tied to being uncomfortable.
Recognizing that this comfort zone is the issue is the first step to addressing it. The second is to acknowledge it.
Recognition and acknowledgment are not the same. I can recognize something – then walk away from it, ignore it, or just outright pretend it’s not there.
Acknowledgment means addressing it. You open yourself to change and empower yourself that way.
Thus, I need to acknowledge my “comfort” and then release it to get uncomfortable.
What does getting uncomfortable mean?
The answer will vary from person to person. My comfort zone is not yours. What makes me uncomfortable might not even impact your shields. And vice versa.
For me, getting uncomfortable takes several forms. Among them are these:
I need to be more mindful of my eating. This isn’t about diet. This is about stopping myself when I’m nearly – but not quite – full. This will be literally uncomfortable. But necessary.
Instead of sticking with Amazon alone for self-publishing my books, I’m starting to expand to a wider distribution and other eBook retail options. This is not comfortable because I’m on unfamiliar ground here.
Working more on expanding my writing career as my main job is simply uncomfortable. The pay isn’t steady (yet), and there are no guarantees.
But that’s the truth of everything. Life is impermanent. Change is the only constant in the Universe. No matter how comfortable, familiar, or stable something is – it won’t remain so forever.
Getting uncomfortable is about working with the impermanence of life and rolling with change. It’s being intentionally unsettled and not entirely comfortable.
Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is all about being better able to improvise and work with change.
This doesn’t mean accepting change, however.
Change and how you work with it
Again, change is the only constant in the Universe. As such, it can, will, and does occur all the time.
Sometimes it’s blindingly fast, other times glacially slow.
Change can be ignored, neglected, accepted, and resisted. But it can’t be changed back nor undone. At least, not in the way most people would like it to be.
Change is progress. You can’t raise a mountain that falls – but you can decide what to do with what remains. Clean it up? Use it to build something new? Leave it as a field of debris? Some other option?
What you can’t do is change it back. And that’s the biggest issue with change. There is no going back, redoing, or undoing.
What you can do is make new choices and decisions in response to – and in light of – change. You can decide if you will resist it, accept it, fight against it – or create something new from there and make another change.
That’s where getting uncomfortable comes in. It’s knowing that change is full of uncertainty and accepting that for what it is.
Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
This is essential to me walking my talk. If I am going to choose a path in this life that’s not the norm, I must recognize it won’t be entirely comfortable.
Rather than retreat, allow distractions to get in my way, and not get my work done – it’s time to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
It’s not a wholly literal idea, and I know that. But it’s a necessary part of active, consciously aware, mindful change.
If I desire to be empowered and in control of my life experience – it’s necessary to be uncomfortable in this way.
But there is one more final, important matter to address. Forgiveness.
The hardest person to forgive is yourself.
I’m not perfect, and I don’t always walk my talk. But that’s okay – so long as I recognize, acknowledge it, and strive to do better with it.
Yet I must also forgive myself for screwing up. Perfectly imperfect is utterly human. And that’s me.
Recognizing and acknowledging what I must do, it’s on me to go forward and act accordingly. And be kind, gentle, and compassionate with myself while balancing that with being uncomfortable as written above, too. I won’t always get it right and must forgive myself for that and start again.
Tedious? Maybe. But this is me taking control of my conscious awareness and striving to live as fully as I can every day. That’s my ultimate goal – and worth a little discomfort.
Do you need to be more comfortable with getting uncomfortable?
This is the six-hundred and third (603) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this journey as part of my desire to make a difference in this world and empower as many people as I can with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to re-post and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including expanded ideas, is available here. Check out Amazon for my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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