Us humans like to be comfortable. There’s huge industry devoted to making our lives fluffy and soft.
At one time, our descendants had a hard life. They struggled to find food, let alone somewhere to lie down and fall asleep without fear of being mauled and eaten by wild animals. They had to rely on their cunning, their hunting and survival skills, the strength and speed of their bodies. The constant danger kept their wits sharp.
In our present age, the closest we come to danger is crossing the road during rush hour.
There is no threat. Society keeps us safe and comfortable.
This is why the population is overweight and overindulgent. Whenever we have a problem, we escape to excess of food, drink, drugs or World of Warcraft instead of facing the problem and overcoming it.
But you and I have taken the pill and we’ve woken up to the truth. If we want to experience more in our lives than our masters and overlords want us to, we have to experience discomfort and peril like our ancestors did.
We push beyond our boundaries, take risks stake our claim to a better life.
Nobody’s saying that we have to go back to the wilderness and live like savages. What I’m saying is that in order to truly experience life and struggle beyond the limitations that the average man is unconsciously held to, we need to feel fear and discomfort on a regular basis. We need to become friends with it.
When you feel that fear, it means that you’re working in unknown territory. When you face the unknown, you grow and become greater than you were before. You gain experience, knowledge and confidence in your ability to push further into the unknown. That first initial foray out of your comfort zone can in time become an expedition, during which you find great wealth and power.
Let’s do an exercise. Close your eyes and imagine each of the following things in as much detail as possible:
- Riding a rollercoaster
- Doing a bungee jump
- Jumping out of a plane with a parachute
- Giving a speech in front of fifty people
- Joining a boxing gym or a martial arts dojo
- Talking to an attractive girl with her friends on the street
- Moving to another country
- Quitting your job and starting your own business
- Contacting a celebrity or personal hero and asking them to lunch
If any of those give you butterflies in your tummy, make you want to throw up or just scare the living shit out of you, then you might consider actually doing them. All of them.
In fact, don’t consider them. Do them.
To make it easier, you can do them in order of the least scary one first and the most scary last. If you can think of other things that scare you, add them to the list.
Once you start meeting that fear instead of avoiding it, you’ll find your life changes in an unprecedented manner.
You will change. You will become more of a man, and a man can do anything.
You can do anything.
If you’re comfortable, you’re not living your life, you’re just existing.