(Un)comfortable

Hard work doesn’t mean that you do your work as if it were the hardest thing to do. It means to do hard things, to work on stuff that is hard, for you, and do it again and again. We have become slaves to comfort. We want to get a seat quickly, take the elevator not the stairs, sleep just a few minutes extra, watch reels on infinite scroll but not read. Every single product we use helps us live better. From washing machines, to microwaves to our cars, we have all the tools to make our life comfortable. Yet we don’t have time for the things that matter. We don’t have time to read, to excercise, to sit alone and contemplate. Why? We are so busy being comfortable that we have found a way to a lifestyle that is determinantal to us. We know it. And have surrendered to our current comfortable life, because it seems hard to do something else. Activity doesn’t equal hard work. If you do something stupid for 8 hours, doing it for 10 wouldn’t change the result. Doing it more forcefully or with commitment wouldn’t get you something different. The idea is to reorient. Our recent experience with COVID vaccine is a great example of how facing a bit of discomfort can actually help our immune system grow and get better. Vaccines have kind of weak or not-so-strong versions of the germs that make us sick, or even just bits and pieces of them. When we get vaccinated, our immune system meets these weak versions. At first, after getting the shot, we feel a bit uncomfortable. Like, there could be a little soreness where we got the shot, or maybe a tiny fever or we might feel tired. But here’s the cool part: this discomfort is like a signal for our immune system to wake up and do its thing, as if we’re really getting sick. Our immune cells, the B cells and T cells, they recognize the stuff in the vaccine that comes from the germs. And they start getting ready, making a plan on how to fight these germs if they show up for real. Here’s the kicker: our immune system remembers this whole thing. It’s like it keeps a record of this encounter. It makes these memory cells, both the memory B cells and memory T cells. These memory cells are like superheroes that “remember” the germs and how to fight them off. So, if we ever actually come across those real bad germs, our immune system jumps into action super fast and kicks those germs out before they can make us really sick. The discomfort from getting vaccinated is like our immune system’s way of learning and getting stronger. It’s like giving our immune system a practice run so that it’s ready to tackle the real deal if it ever shows up. Discomfort & doing hard things is a hack like no other. Deciding to do progressively harders things, over a very long period of time is a source of growth. Over time, what seems hard today, becomes routine. Just like the B cells and memory T cells, we develop the ability to excel at things which seems out of bounds today. Take reading for example. A study, published in the journal NeuroImage, found that people who read had thicker gray matter in the frontal cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for things like attention, memory, and decision-making. MRI scans and neuroimaging studies have revealed structural changes in the brains of such individuals, forming and strengthening synaptic connections between neurons. This means that the brain evolves as we use it more. The more discomfort and hard effort we put on our brain, the stronger it become. The more we read, the better we get at it. The more your memorize, the bigger the memory gets. We still haven’t found a limit to what our brain is capable of. Isn’t it fascinating? What would a perpetual state of seeking comfort do to us? It makes us weak, soft and irritable. I believe, people who pick hard things are calmer and less agitated than those who like to ‘relax’. Here is a three point action plan: 1. Take up an activity that you find hard and put a 30 minutes block of doing it every day. 2. Try making it a bit harder every week by doing it a bit quicker or a bit more in the same 30 mins. 3. Force yourself to do it for 60 mins on the day you ‘feel like’ not doing it. Comfort zones are truly uncomfortable, in reality. Be (un)comfortable.