Being Comfortable is Not a Taboo
Why do we get in the brain’s way of protecting us from danger and keeping us safe — at least for a while?
Who wired us this way? The society? Our family? Friends?
The popular millennial transcription of comfort suggests pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zone. We tell ourselves never to get comfortable with anything as that can be equated to stuntedness. Like hell, I’m one of those people who’s starting to believe that being comfortable won’t get me anywhere either.
But then I thought, isn’t the point of fighting to get out of one’s comfort zone to at least be comfortable in one area of life at some point?
Then what’s the fuss about not being comfortable when that’s the end goal to our feats?
How do we get out of this hedonistic mindset and breathe a little?
And that’s when the title of this write-up was born. Yes!, it’s not a crime to be comfortable, as counterintuitive as that may sound.
Hear me out.
The mindset of not being comfortable in our lives can be hereditary — in the sense that we were taught to never relax, never enjoy ourselves, and generally not to acknowledge comfort when it’s there.
The brain behind this thinking from what I’ve garnered from personal experience is to continue to make one work hard to be successful. But now we all know that working hard doesn’t necessarily give rise to success nor comfort for the future. It’s a mixture of your mindset, routine, skills, education, knowledgeability, luck, God, favor, and yes, hard work and persistence too. Because some or most of these things are out of the equation circumstantially, means that we’d be waiting for success and that period of rest for a longer time.
So what do we do?
We practice gratitude. Gratitude is one of the biggest growth traits one can use to get comfortable and enjoy it while it lasts. While it lasts because, like a circadian rhythm, as a phase, it would pass. It’s paramount to soak into the goodies life has for you at each “end-point” (even if not the end) while waiting for further dynamics.
It’s not a crime to go on holiday/vacation trips, visit the beach, go on a shopping spree, get a suntan, a massage, full body make-over, you know the likes. It’s not a crime to indulge sometimes in these amazing things life has to offer to better improve your wellbeing and re-energize yourself for the remaining parts of the journey ahead.
This is not called getting comfortable in the form of complacency, but celebrating the peaks of life as you hit the bouts.
Do not let anyone stop your shine. You worked hard for this, therefore you shouldn’t have to feel an ounce of guilt enjoying the fruits of your labor. You must spread your wings and fly if you will, without restrictions from the naysayers. The same people who might have instilled the restrictive boundaries in your mentality about how looking lovely and showing it, being wealthy and exhibiting it is a taboo. Because the truth is, it’s not. It’s not a no-no to hit the jackpots of life and celebrate them. It’s rare to come by for a lot of people therefore if it hits you, accept it confidently and enjoy it. Life has a way of stripping us of the good times. It’s strange but it happens. You feel nervous when good things happen to you and more comfortable when everything is going south but this is not a healthy way to live.
Life’s full of ups and downs. Why should we always capitalize on the downs and not celebrate the ups when it is time? It doesn’t add up. It’s unfair. That’s the reason for constructing this piece. It is to tell you to go break the norm and not hold back.
I have held back from being myself and celebrating all the good tiding which came my way because I was taught to decrease the volume when it comes to celebrating victories and feats. Doing so would connote pride. I hid for so long because I wanted somebody else to come find me and take me out of the closet (pun unintended). And all I got were more waits, less celebrating, more pain, and less of me. Guess what? It stings.
But ever since I started celebrating myself and enjoying the small feats here and there, I’ve felt alive and whole again. So, take pride in enjoying what you worked for, it’s called gratitude, not the pervasive pride.
What I’m saying in recapitulation is this: being comfortable is the ability to bask in your current victory not necessarily a means to the end of your strive. It is knowing that there’s the good side to life and optimistically looking forward to it. Which in turn inspires others to do the same. Life’s good, why look over your shoulders to savor it while it lasts?
