3332: The Lasting Benefits of Getting Comfortable with Discomfort by Jay Harrington on Breaking Routines

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Living Daily. The Lasting Benefits of Getting Comfortable with Discomfort by Jay Harrington of LifeAndWhim.com

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Justin Malik. We're going to jump right into today's post as we optimize your life.

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: The Lasting Benefits of Getting Comfortable with Discomfort by Jay Harrington of LifeAndWhim.com

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I woke in a tent, a bit disoriented, and my attention immediately fixated on my feet.

[00:00:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It was the morning of day two of what was to be a four-day, 43-mile hike through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Three friends and I had carefully planned the journey. We had enough food, clothing, tents, and supplies to get us through.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: We had the means to filter the Lake Superior water we'd need to stay hydrated.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: But as is often the case when planning for an outdoor adventure, a small mistake I made had big implications for my comfort level during the trip.

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: At the last minute, I decided to wear a different pair of shoes than I had originally intended.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of wearing lightweight trail-running shoes, I opted for an old high-top pair of hiking boots.

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a chronically weak ankle, often injured from multiple sprains over the years, and I was worried about rolling it while hiking the trail and being a burden to my friends.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: There's no easy way out of the trail if you get injured.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_00]: The hiking boots provided good ankle support, but they did a number on my feet.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: After clambering out of the tent that morning, I surveyed the damage.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It was clear to me just a few miles into the first day of the hike that I was going to have blister problems.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Blister problems are obviously painful, but they're manageable.

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_00]: The problem was that the blisters that were forming on my heels were causing me to change my gait, leading to an unnatural foot strike on the balls of my feet.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: This resulted in deep, painful stone bruises developing on the balls of my feet.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: As we resuscitated our campfire from the night before, made coffee and cooked breakfast, my only option was pretty clear.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Pull the boots back on and get comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable for a few days.

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: 11 miles later, we reached our second campsite and quickly set up our tents.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: During the day's hike, we had the chance to enjoy the cliffs, panoramic views of Lake Superior, waterfalls, and other natural wonders that Pictured Rocks is known for.

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: It truly is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: The campsite was much deeper in the woods than the first and the mosquitoes were out, so after setting up camp we grabbed what we needed, food, water, and bourbon, and hustled down to the beach where we only had to contend with black flies.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: We spent a relaxing 6 or 7 hours chilling out on the beach, cooking dinner, and allowing the frigid Lake Superior water to take the sting out of sore feet and calf muscles.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: After the sun set at about 10.30pm, we made our way back to camp and zipped up our tents as quickly as possible as the ambient noise of buzzing mosquitoes enveloped us.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_00]: On day 3, as we set out on our hike, we began to assess our options.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: We had 21 miles ahead of us which we intended to complete over the next 2 days, but the idea of setting up camp among another swarm of mosquitoes was not appealing.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: After hiking 13 miles, we took a break at Miner's Beach around 5pm.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: By this point, we were all experiencing some level of discomfort ranging from blisters to sore knees, backs, and feet.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: We had 2 more miles to go on our campsite, but we decided to knock out the last 8 miles and finish the hike rather than dealing with the bugs.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: By the time we got started on the final leg, we knew we only had about 3, maybe 4 hours of light left, so we had to move quickly.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Our hike became a trail run and we spilled out of the trail in near darkness at 10.30pm.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: We were soaked in sweat, sore, thirsty, and exhilarated.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Our little adventure pales in comparison to many of the epic excursions you'll see splashed across Instagram and documented on Netflix.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But for me, a middle-aged desk jockey, it was pretty extreme and it definitely got me out of my comfort zone.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Grow through discomfort

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to get stuck in day-to-day routines.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: As we get older, our lives begin to fall into familiar patterns.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: The spontaneity and adventure of our youth is displaced by the monotony of the familiar.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: While days may drag, life seems to speed by.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Routine is comfortable.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Breaking one's routine, even in small ways, is uncomfortable, which is why most people don't.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But getting comfortable with discomfort is the path to personal growth.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Here's a seemingly trivial example that has paid some lasting dividends.

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I check for new work emails on my phone way too often.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: By going into the woods where we lacked a signal for 3 days, I was forced to break this routine.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_00]: At first, despite knowing it was futile, I still found myself pulling out my phone out of habit.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Within a few hours, I adapted to the new reality, life without the internet, and became much more present in the moment as a result.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: While I was uncomfortable at first, I came to realize the madness of allowing technology to steal my attention from the wonders of the world around me.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Upon re-entering the world of 5-bar data signals, I found that my digital detox endured.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: By no means have I been perfect, but the positive feelings of my tech-free weekend have led me to be less likely to reach for my phone in search of a quick dopamine hit.

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: There are way more appealing things to look at in the beautiful setting of Traverse City.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Another example? Physical fitness has always been an important part of my life, but over the last 12 months I've fallen into a bit of a rut.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: My workout routine became, well, routine, and I started feeling stagnant.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: The pictured rocks weekend helped break the script.

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: The hike was a physical challenge, to be sure.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: 43 miles in 3 days of hilly terrain, a great deal of wet, muddy trails, and obstacles to maneuver over and around all while carrying heavy backpacks was taxing.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: However, I found that despite the increasingly acute pain in my feet, the hike got easier as the days went on.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we ran the last 8 miles of our 21-mile hike on day 3.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a good reminder that the human body is a pretty remarkable machine.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Most of the physical limitations we face, except for injury and disability of course, are mental.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: While the body's primal evolutionary instinct is to conserve energy, it can turn it on when it needs to.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: While the first couple of days of a physical challenge may seem extremely difficult, by the third days it's as if the body says to itself,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: OK, this is what we're doing now, and taps into rarely used reserves.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable on the trail has, like the digital detox, paid ongoing dividends in terms of better, more rigorous workouts.

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Experience something new to create lasting change.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: All of this is to say that while it's not easy to break free from old routines, one of the best ways to do so is to thrust yourself into new, often uncomfortable situations and experiences.

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't think your way out of undesired habits.

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: No article or online video is going to provide the motivation necessary to overcome the inertia of the status quo.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: It's almost always necessary to experience something new, even if it is unpleasant in the moment, to see things differently.

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Personal experience is the precursor to personal improvement.

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Discomfort is the catalyst for growth.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: You just listened to the post titled, The Lasting Benefits of Getting Comfortable with Discomfort by Jay Harrington of LifeAndWim.com, and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you to Jay for the reminder.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I can definitely relate to that idea of having a reflex to check something, only to realize it's not even there.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Basically the twitch that Anthony Ungaro talks about frequently on his site, BreakTheTwitch, and one that I narrate here, is exactly what he's talking about.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: Only when we remove something or put an obstacle in our way do we realize some of our unconscious behaviors.

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: For me, when I went to the mountains for a month in Colorado to volunteer at a meditation center, I had a similar experience as Jay in the woods.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I didn't have cell phone reception, no laptop, we had to go to a special room with only 3-4 computers to go online, which I think only happened for me once in that entire month.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And it really erased some of those habits, at least temporarily.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Having an experience like that sheds light on things that we don't even know are happening, which I find really helpful.

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you have the chance, I'd back Jay up here and say, try it out.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: A great quote from this article,

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Now you don't have to leave for a month like I did, you just have to experience something new.

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: So have that experience, and I'll see you tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.