We live in a world of “discomfort.” And our natural tendencies are to actively avoid or escape discomfort or uncomfortable situations.
Our discomfort tends to arise when things aren’t happening the way we expected them to happen. We expect a certain response or reaction in a conversation, and we get something entirely different from what we may have wanted or hoped for. We are doing our work but things aren’t working. We are focused on achieving our goals, yet we are not achieving them. We aren’t getting the “support” we had hoped to get.
Or we may be doing everything “right,” but it’s not working. And the more we try to do those things, the more they fail. We are uncomfortable, perhaps confused. Things have changed and the way we have handled them before no longer work the way they have in the past.
Or we encounter people having very different points of view.
Or in some cases, we confronted with extreme discomfort, a major disruption.
Ignoring the discomfort, or doing things to avoid or escape the discomfort, may provide band aids to help us feel better for a moment, but discomfort is persistent. It will always return.
In reality, discomfort it telling us something. It’s like a red flag or a siren that’s saying, “something’s not right, things are changing, something’s happening.”
What would happen if we started paying attention to it?
What would happen if we started to embrace it, perhaps not proactively looking to be uncomfortable, but when it occurs, look at it as s signal and begin to think about what it means?
What if we started looking at it as a “gift?” *
The reality is discomfort is a trigger for reflection and learning. It offers us the opportunity to grow, innovate, and change. It may offer us the opportunity to build resilience. It may offer us the opportunity to get help, building relationships with others facing the same issues.
Effectively harnessing discomfort requires us to have growth mindsets.
Discomfort is part of each of our lives. It is part of everything where there is human interaction. It is discomforting, but it also represents such a great opportunity.
*Thanks Tom Morris!
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