Embracing Discomfort: The Unexpected Path to Transforming Your Life

"The more you seek the uncomfortable, the more you will become comfortable."     Conor McGregor

Embracing discomfort to transform your life means trying new things that push your limits and may make you uncomfortable.

This could mean starting a fitness plan, giving up favorite foods, or attending social events you have avoided.

It's about overcoming temporary discomfort to build resilience and mental toughness to experience personal growth.

This approach can lead to feeling stronger, managing stress better, and realizing your full potential.

Rethinking Self-Care

My idea of self-care came from reading (and writing) articles that included walking in nature, journaling, meditation, and long hot baths. 

Those things are lovely but don't tell the whole story of self-care.

True self-care is hard work and can be very uncomfortable!

Since I turned 60, I've been slowing down. My energy levels dropped, and, especially since I retired, I stopped pushing myself to reach my goals.

I leaned into relaxing activities, eating yummy food, and taking a lot of naps!

As you might imagine, the result was weight gain, flabby muscles, and dissatisfaction with my life. 

I needed to make a change, and I decided to embrace discomfort.

What "Embracing Discomfort" Means

When I talk about embracing discomfort, I don't mean that you should ignore your body's signals that something is wrong. 

The discomfort you need to embrace is pushing yourself to exercise for five more minutes after you want to stop (or even exercise for 5 minutes if you don't exercise at all!).

Or exercise even if your muscles are sore from your last workout. 

Another form of helpful discomfort is to stop eating after 7 p.m. to help you lose weight.

It will be uncomfortable to push yourself through the pain of skipping your favorite nighttime snack, but if you stick with your plan, you will reap the weight loss reward. 

Deep down, you know the difference between pain that needs attention and an excuse to avoid doing something you don't want to do.

Expanding Your Comfort Zone

The more you avoid discomfort, the smaller your comfort zone becomes, and it takes less and less to make you uncomfortable. 

Let me explain.

A comfort zone is your happy place where you feel at ease and in control.

It's where things are familiar, and stress is minimized because you're in a routine that feels just right.

For example, you stay home instead of learning to deal with the stress of meeting new people.

You have narrowed your comfort zone. 

If you instead make yourself go to an event where you will meet people, you may experience discomfort for a while, but the more often you do this, the less uncomfortable it will become. 

You have expanded your comfort zone to include meeting new people, with the benefit of no longer being alone all the time. 

The more comfortable you become with discomfort, the more you expand your comfort zone and shrink your discomfort zone!

Does that make sense to you? 

Using Discomfort to Improve Your Health

As a former personal trainer, I know the human body excels at becoming quickly conditioned to whatever we do.

So, while walking the same route at the same pace every day is better than not walking at all, it won't help you improve your endurance, shed those extra pounds, or boost your heart health beyond a certain point.

To see positive changes, you need to walk faster or further, add some hills, or carry weights in a backpack.

In other words, increase your discomfort zone every time you exercise to see improvement. 

Seeking Discomfort

Embracing discomfort is the first step to change.

Finding ways to add discomfort to your life will bring significant changes in your life and health. 

The more comfortable you are with discomfort, the less often you will feel uncomfortable!

How to Add Constructive Discomfort

 Here are 10 ways to add constructive discomfort to improve your life:

1. Exercise. To improve your physical health, start small and stay consistent. Each week, add something to increase your discomfort. The best way to push yourself is to exercise with someone else, join a class, use an online video, or hire a personal trainer. Find a way to keep yourself accountable.I have used many of these home workouts over the years. 
2. Procrastination. We put off doing things that must be done because they are uncomfortable. Choose one task from your list and stay with it until it is completed, even if it takes several days.
3. Waking early. Early morning is a beautiful time for exercising, creating, or meditating. Each week, get up 15 minutes earlier until you find your perfect time to rise and get a beneficial start to your day. 
4. Go to bed earlier. Conversely, getting up earlier will be more comfortable if you go to bed earlier. Turning off the TV or giving up social media scrolling earlier in the evening will be uncomfortable, but getting a good night's sleep will be worth it. 
5. Healthy eating. Learning to eat new foods or giving up unhealthy foods you love is uncomfortable! However, you can change your taste buds in small doses and learn to love healthy foods. I also love these protein shakes. 
6. Learn something new. It's hard to learn a new language, learn how to play an instrument, or take up a new hobby. There are so many options to learn online now that just about anything can be learned at home and on your schedule. Use that newfound extra time in the morning to learn something new! 
7. Do nothing. You have no idea how uncomfortable this is! Set a timer for 10 minutes and do nothing during that time: no reading, no music, no television. Just sit. 
8. Meditation. This differs from "doing nothing" and can be equally uncomfortable initially. With meditation, you try to stay in the present and be aware of your thoughts. 
9. Adventure. Going somewhere new, meeting new people, or trying a new activity will take you out of your comfort zone, but this temporary discomfort will add fun and adventure to your life. 
10. Creating. You may be putting off creative activities because you are unsure of your skills or because making time for these activities seems frivolous. Something that should be fun may come with some discomfort, but do it anyway!

Mastering Discomfort

• Start with something easy, such as five minutes of meditation daily or trying a new healthy food.
• Only do a little at a time. You don't need to change your life in one day!
• Watch your discomfort. As you start to get uncomfortable, do you begin to complain internally?  Do you look for ways to avoid the discomfort? What do you turn to? Do you turn on the TV or start scrolling on the internet? What happens if you sit with your discomfort?
• Learn to stay with your discomfort a little longer. The first time you want to stop, keep going a little longer. When you want to stop again, keep going until you want to stop for the third time, and then you can stop. This practice will help you learn that being uncomfortable won't hurt you, and hopefully, by staying with your discomfort, you will see progress.
• Smile. This sounds as silly as doing nothing, but smiling while doing something that makes you uncomfortable will make you feel happier.

In summary, embracing discomfort to transform your health journey doesn't mean ignoring your body's pain signals.

Instead, it involves pushing yourself beyond your limits to achieve personal growth and resilience.

By gradually expanding your comfort zone and seeking discomfort, you can embark on a journey of significant change and long-lasting improvements in your life and health.

It's crucial to start small, stay consistent, and focus on one area of your life at a time to avoid overwhelming yourself. Remember, the discomfort you may face is a stepping stone towards a healthier and more fulfilling life.

If you don't feel challenged by parts of your self-care, then you are doing it wrong and not reaping all the benefits you could be getting.