Discomfort Increases Strength

Make a choice.

If the entire human species understood that opting for discomfort over the easier (and often lazy) option, we would be another step up the ladder of evolution. We humans have consistently evolved to adapt to environmental stressors but technology has advanced so rapidly in recent years that we now live in a world of sedentary comforts. Unless we decide to make a change, things are only due to get worse. Choose health or choose disease.

We must seek discomfort or we will experience the side effects currently plaguing modern society. There are many simple ways to do so. Some simple ideas are detailed below. Obesity, diabetes, depression, etc. are more prevalent now than ever and although this is caused by a combination of factors, mainly diet and lifestyle, it all stems down to the path of comfort being all too easy to choose.

It's easier to eat fast food than prepare nutritious meals. It's easier to sit on the couch instead of going for a run. It's easier to stay warm and cosy than to face the merciless cold.

In all fairness, it goes against our instinct to choose the tough option but this paradox should not be ignored. It often takes some amount of 'rewiring' the brain and understand that we are not usually in a fight-or-flight survival type situation.

In the co-called 'Blue Zones' - several areas of the world in which people generally live the longest, healthiest lives (mainly due to environmental factors, not genetics), people live a life of inconvenience by default. This 'inconvenience' results in a population who move more, experience more and live more. Think hiking up the hill to replenish water, a lack of technology to make life simpler around the home, etc. We would be wise to opt for a life of inconvenience to improve our health, resilience, and therefore our lifespan.

How to become stronger through discomfort:

Get Cold - a cold shower is the simplest and safest way to gain the benefits of cold exposure, however cold immersion, particularly in nature is the most powerful method.

Exercise Daily - humans are at their healthiest when they move their bodies often. Daily walks, runs, cycles, fitness classes, yoga, the list goes on. A mixture if high-intensity days and low-intensity 'recovery' days is optimal.

Choose The Hard Option - when life presents an option, embrace the one which makes you uncomfortable. Discomfort stems growth. Volunteer for public speaking events, hike up a harder hill, go barefoot instead of wearing spongey shoes (carefully).

An uncomfortable long hill run - discomfort doesn't always suck! It sometimes comes with views!

It can be difficult to find the motivation to embrace discomfort, especially when comfort has taken it's reassuring firm grasp, which is why it's of vital importance to set goals and engrain habits through daily discipline. Using some kind of tick sheet in a visual place is a great way to motivate and measure progress.

Ice bathing since 2010

Start now.

The sooner you begin to embrace discomfort, the easier it will be to further improve or regain your health and vitality. The longer we spend in comfort, the more pernicious it will be. Don't waste the gift of life, not everyone is lucky enough to have the option for optimal health. Choosing laziness, obesity and self-inflicted poor health is an utter insult to those who could only wish for the choice of optimal human health.

Once you begin these types of practices, you will very quickly feel the benefits and suddenly it becomes easier and easier. The human body can adapt extremely quickly to stress. Apply stress, recover, apply more.

This is the equation for limitless human potential.