Why I’ve Stopped Chasing Comfort And Ease

What Tucker Max describes there is something I have gone through too.

I’ve tried to make my life about comfort and ease.

There was a period in my life where I spent my days sleeping in late, watching Netflix, and avoiding difficult things. Why, you ask? Well… because they were difficult.

It basically went like this:

I’d spent one day doing nothing. And I wouldn’t feel great.

Which meant the next day I had to work harder to distract myself from that feeling. (And when I say “work harder,” I mean: watch more Netflix. Or sleep longer.)

Which only made the feeling worse.

Which made my attempts to ignore it more desperate.

Which—you guessed it—made it worse.

This went on for a while.

Then, I hit a breaking point. It was not pretty.

I had to face it: “This ain’t working.” I was miserable, lonely, anxious, and hadn’t done a useful thing in a long time.

All because I tried to be as comfortable as possible (in the moment).

But then, I started taking a different approach.

I did things that were uncomfortable in the moment but beneficial in the future.

And every day I did that, I felt a little bit better.

So, I did a little more.

And I felt a little betterer.

After a while, things didn’t look so terrible anymore.

So, answer the question: Why have I stopped chasing comfort and ease?

Because it sucked.

I felt good because I borrowed happiness from tomorrow.

Which, obviously, made tomorrow a lot less fun.

So, again, I borrowed from tomorrow. And from the day after that (because I now had two days to cover).

I kept doing it until it all caught up with me.

The cool thing is: the other way around, it’s a much better deal.

If I give some comfort up today (by going to the gym, for example), I get to have more joy in the future.

BUT.

Not only do I get more joy in the future, but I also kind of feel good today. Because I voluntarily did something difficult.

I might not exactly feel comfortable. But maybe fulfilled.