There are few things better than being comfortable. Laying in a warm bed, wearing pants that stretch with cozy socks—it’s pure bliss. We crave comfort, so when we finally find it, it’s a place we don’t want to leave.
When we are experienced and have a lot of knowledge in a certain area, we easily appear refined, poised, and confident. Our peers can pat us on the back, and we feel valuable, or even important. It’s comfortable.
Trying to learn or do something new can feel the opposite of comfortable. It can feel highly uncomfortable. Not knowing what we are doing is vulnerable and can leave us feeling exposed. In this space, no one is congratulating us for anything. We are at the bottom of the totem pole, not the top. Who wants to be at the starting line when all the glory is at the finish line?
Many of us are entering the new year with high hopes and higher goals. Hopefully, we have done the hardest part by starting. But now, we are in the second hardest part: The part where we are shaky, unfamiliar, and trying to forge a new way.
This time can be scary. But it can also be a signpost that you’re on the right path. Feeling like this isn’t wrong. It’s part of the human experience. We all go through it. So, when you catch yourself in the vortex of the unknown and the insecure, don’t use it as a reason to quit! Use it as a confirmation that you are exactly where you need to be. The best comfort is found in mastery, but we are required to embrace the hard to get there. In the end, it’s a choice between the immediate discomfort of working towards a better version of ourselves, or the long-term discomfort of knowing we settled for what we have outgrown.
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