Seeking the uncomfortable in comfortable live

A little series of Ghozi's thoughts

Sturcture

• Introducing a comfortable life
• Slowly but surely, it kills
• A motivation “hack”: looking for discomfort
• Using comfort as a tool (it can still slowly kill you depending on how you respond)
• Comfort is inevitable: learning where to find discomfort

Content

Hi, welcome back to my blog.

Comfort.

A word that most people crave. Everyone wants to be in that position—willing to wake up early, work until late afternoon, all to secure shelter, clothing, and food. Living in the 21st century, I’m pretty sure most people today already enjoy a decent amount of comfort in their lives.

For clarity, by “comfort” here I mean you no longer have to worry about basic needs—like stressing about what you’ll eat tomorrow. If you work, you get paid, and with that salary your basic needs are covered, so you fall into the “comfortable” category. Especially if you still have time to waste on social media purely for consumption—not for selling something, not for endorsements, nothing like that.

So, is there anything wrong with comfort? Yes, there is. The quote that always shows up on Instagram feeds or the internet is: “Get out of your comfort zone.” It’s probably one of the best-selling quotes of the 21st century. Everyone feels like they need to leave their comfort zone—we all want to grow and improve.

Comfort really is a “position” where everything feels neutral, and often enjoyable: gaming, scrolling social media, and so on. And if those activities are done with a purely consumptive mindset, it means nothing is being produced from all that gaming and scrolling. That’s why we can’t compare ourselves to influencers or YouTubers in the gaming world using this definition—they may play games for hours and live on social media every day, but they earn money from it. Although honestly, I’m not sure if “productive” should always mean “making money.” But for this case, let’s agree on that definition.

But what about those of us who are comfortable and not productive at all? Well, the answer is: it’s slowly killing you. I once listened to someone vent on Discord—randomly met a stranger and we talked. They asked if I was well-off, I said, “Alhamdulillah, I’m doing okay,” and they replied, “Must be nice.” I answered, “Being well-off doesn’t mean you automatically grow. In fact, it can be a trap—your chance of not developing and becoming stagnant can be even bigger than people who are not well-off.” I’m not trying to look down on any economic class. I just notice that my friends who truly struggle financially often have stronger desires, tougher grit, and more resilience.

Yes, I agree that those conditions shape them: higher willpower, stronger perseverance and persistence, and more consistency—whether in academics or other areas. They have very clear reasons why they must grow. This is what becomes a borderline for me: what’s my reason to have strong willpower? What’s my reason to be consistently persistent and resilient? Are my reasons strong enough to match theirs? This is the hardest part for me—finding the reason behind every consistency I try to build.

Why do I need to wake up early? Why should I work hard when I could just play games? Why should I work out when I could just watch Netflix? Why should I study when I could scroll Instagram or Twitter without worrying that I won’t eat tomorrow, or where I’ll get money to buy this and that? Finding your “WHY” is the most challenging thing, because your “WHY” can make you wake up early, work hard, work out, and keep learning without stopping.

There’s a book that gets recommended everywhere—from websites to bookstores—by Simon Sinek, titled “Start With Why.” One of the big ideas is basically: why do great people have big ambitions to make their dreams real, and so on. Unfortunately, I haven’t read it yet. If I do, I’ll try to review it in a blog post or maybe a podcast.

So yeah, that’s what’s on my mind. Being in this “comfortable” position, I’m trying to find ways to experience “discomfort,” because that’s what helps me grow. I came up with some ideas I might publish as articles—one of them is “Pain is essential.” Like the saying: “No pain, no gain.” And I think it applies to many aspects of life.

But does that mean we should hurt ourselves and live in constant discomfort just to grow? Sure, if you’re strong enough. Just kidding—of course not. If you live comfortably and your needs are met, be grateful.

There are ways to still enjoy comfort while staying productive. Actually, talking about this makes me think: “Why do we need to be productive?” or “Why do we have to produce something?” That’s interesting, and my answer might get very philosophical—but let’s get back to the topic.

If we know discomfort makes us grow, our job is to find those points of discomfort. So you don’t need to sell your house or car just to make your life full of suffering. Just use the resources and conditions around you, and create something valuable. In my opinion, when you try to produce something—work, writing, anything—you’ve already stepped out of your comfort zone. It doesn’t have to be a finished product that you publish; it could be small research, sketches, whatever—just repeated trial and error.

From those efforts, I believe we grow and develop. We’re no longer purely consumptive 24/7—maybe we spend 1–2 hours producing something.

That’s probably enough for this article. I originally wanted to keep it short, but I don’t know why it became this long (or maybe it’s not long for you). Anyway, if you have thoughts or want to discuss, feel free to leave a comment below. We can talk casually about this topic, or you can say hi on my social media. Thank you.