Being Comfortable is the Wrong Goal

When we feel discomfort, we default to seeking what is more comfortable. Comfort is, well, comfortable—it’s familiar, easy, and soothing, and our natural human programming likes us to feel this way. In fact, we usually go out of our way to AVOID what will make us uncomfortable, because our carefully calibrated internal alarms start shrieking when we approach the “Danger Zone of Discomfort”—

Tough conversations.
Putting yourself out there with the possibility of rejection.
Being vulnerable.
Being wrong.
Failing.
Changing.
Crying in public.
Living with less stuff. Or less than the best stuff.
Giving from your poverty.
Giving up the illusion of perfection.
Taking action to get unstuck.
Standing in your truth in a room full of people who disagree with you.
Refusing to try something new and different because you’ll probably suck at it.
Loving the people in your life unconditionally.
Leaving a shitty relationship because you’d be alone.
Ditching a soul-sucking job because you’d have to start over.

The threat of these things (and countless others) drive us to seek the shelter of our comfort zone, because we believe it keeps us safe from life’s unpleasantness. The thing is, it doesn’t.

Staying in your comfort zone all the time just makes you lazy.

It’s the equivalent of super-gluing your butt to the sofa and turning it into your office—Netflix remote in one hand, tub of chocolate chip ice cream in the other, and smartphone nestled in the pocket of your Snuggie. Every day. All day. With this as the only aspiration of your life.

Is this really how you want to live?

The comfort of a life in sweatpants is tempting, but it will never make you happy. (No. NO! Uh-uh. Really, it won’t.) There’s no challenge, no adventure, no movement, no connection, no goals, no dreams, no achievement, no success, and definitely no fulfillment or satisfaction—just stagnation and a lot aloneness. Here’s the Truth:

Being comfortable is the wrong goal.

It’s only when you reach the end of your comfort zone and challenge the boundaries you find there that you can GROW. Personal growth is the birthplace of happiness. It’s the vital component to finding out who you are and what your life is about, and it’s the means to becoming who you are meant to be. Whenever you avoid discomfort, you push away your greatest opportunity to grow—and ultimately you reject your own happiness.

An undaunted life—one that is filled with joy, vibrancy + deep fulfillment—begins at the END of your comfort zone. Whenever you feel discomfort, it means you’ve reached that outer limit. Your Work is to bust through it and then keep on going.

Love. Kyleigh

P.S. Here’s some musical inspiration for you as you hop some fences and start exploring what’s on the other side of your comfort zone: https://youtu.be/lq5vrpwdMGM