Embrace Discomfort & Find Freedom

The Turning Feral Journal - Day 16

Day 16: Discomfort is something that our society actively avoids. We spend much of our lives building out processes and lifestyles that make things “easy.” While not wholly a terrible thing when avoiding certain types of discomfort (think injuries or sickness), when looked at in aggregate it is clear we are becoming a much softer society. People are afraid to be a little hungry, a little cold, and to be physically sore.

This has led us down a path of seeing huge increases in obesity amongst adults and children, avoidance of outdoor activities, and physical fitness levels at an all time low. We have prescribed drugs for every minor ailment and fought to ensure that you don’t have to face your problems head on if you don’t want to. We have pushed people away from embracing grit and pulled back from teaching that all great things come on the other side of discomfort.

Just spent 4 days camping out in the Sawtooth Wilderness in single digit temps… Very uncomfortable.

Daily Prompt: What areas of your life have you embraced a little too much comfort? What can you do today to avoid some of the normal comforts that are afforded to our society? Ex: Can you walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator or escalator?:

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Motivational Passage: 

“This creep phenomenon applies directly to how we now relate to comfort, said Levari. Call it comfort creep. When a new comfort is introduced, we adapt to it and our old comforts become unacceptable. Today’s comfort is tomorrow’s discomfort. This leads to a new level of what’s considered comfortable.

Michael Easter - “The Comfort Crisis”

Rewilding Action: Go camping! There is nothing better to help break from your normal comforts than finding a spot to sleep and eat outside. This could be with a nice trailer, a tent, or anything in between, but find time to remove yourself from your normal creature comforts for at least a night this month.