Voluntary Discomfort – How to Improve As a Person

Today, we are going to talk about why it is so important to practice voluntary discomfort in order to grow mentally and physically

Marco Aurelio, Epictetus and Seneca knew that life is made up of ups and downs. Pain and pleasure. Happiness and sadness. Peaks and valleys.

It seems that we have forgotten this and we are starting to pay the price. While our lives lack philosophy, we rely on anxiolytics and sedatives of all kinds.

We have forgotten how to control the pain, anger or frustration. Even worse, we see them as diseases.

The culture of speed

Most individuals live in a state of unconscious submission, guided by two fundamental principles:

1. Avoiding pain
2. Looking for immediate pleasure

This is inherent to all of us.

In other words, it is only natural to act this way and follow these two precepts

But we are heading to a dangerous path: avoiding discomfort at all costs can be dangerous: 

To put it simply: madness

However, I am not saying that we should wake up and torture ourselves before going to work, or walk barefoot, not eat, or any other way of self-inflected punishments that would not provide a single benefit.

Not at all, I am talking about restoring the balance

Humans are incredible beings that are capable of adapting to almost anything. We could even say that we are immortal as a species. In fact, we have survived our own mistakes, some of them almost irrevocable. We have been exposed to the cold, hunger, war.

And here we are

What would happen if, all of a sudden, all those things that make life a little bit difficult just disappeared?

How to practice Voluntary Discomfort?

Voluntary discomfort is just a way of improving your physical and mental health by restoring that lost balance.

If they think you are crazy or you simply do not want to share it, do not tell anyone

Here you have five ways to increase your discomfort levels:

1. Cold showers

Do you know Wim Hof?

Beyond the scientific validity of his statements, the story of Wim Hof may help you a lot. Wim is the living example of self-imposed discomfort.

After his wife committed suicide, he decided to take control of his life in an unconventional way: cold. Exposing ourselves to the cold produces a particular neuroendocrine response that we can discuss in another post.

2. Go further in your workouts

Push yourself in every workout.

Obviously, this means that you will suffer pain and discomfort if you want to improve. See it as your daily dose of self-imposed discomfort.

3. Intermittent fasting will help you mentally

It is the new trend, intermittent fasting has come to stay. However, nobody talks about its psychological benefits.

Having food available and choosing not to eat it is an act of willpower. Actually, willpower is like a muscle, you can exercise it. But few actually do so.

4. Technological fasting

The culture of speed is based on technology and the addiction to it.

Scrolling through the Instagram feed is a drug and you are constantly exposed to it.

5. Face your fears

For example, you are scared of speaking in public.

Well, look for a group of 5 or 10 people and speak. It does not matter what it is. You can try in your next family reunion or a meeting. It does not matter. Above all, your objective should be to temporarily expose yourself to what makes you uncomfortable. In fact, it does not matter if you are a good speaker or if what you say makes any sense at all.

Conclusions

You will be able to restore the balance through these examples or you can come up with your own methods.

Perhaps, you will not realize, but something in your head will click and everything will make sense.

See you in the next post. If this was helpful at all, help others too by sharing this post with them. Cheers!

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