How often do we distract ourselves to avoid discomfort? Probably more than we would like to admit. It begins with waking up. How many people press the snooze button because they don't want to wake up and delay transitioning from a warm bed to a cold bathroom? Does this action remove discomfort or simply delay it, making us more rushed?
The bottom line is that we can't remove discomfort from our lives. All we need to do is find a way to cope with it. The beauty of finding ways to move through discomfort more easily is that the freedom and peace we seek are closer than we think. As President Ronald Reagan said,
"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means."
Just like our experience with daily discomfort, we constantly have internal conflicts about how to manage it. Distraction and avoidance only temporarily remove discomfort. Sooner or later, the next uncomfortable sensation will ask us what to do with it. The sooner we face discomfort, the sooner we find freedom.
How do we practice? How does it become second nature? It begins with:
Honesty
Often, we fool ourselves about how to cope with discomfort, not realizing that we are making it more difficult for ourselves. We tell ourselves white lies to make ourselves feel better and, again, avoid the discomfort in the first place. What will it take to be more honest with ourselves and face the discomfort and its effects head-on?
Awareness
When we comprehend that discomfort is part of life and are honest when we feel it, it won't last as long. We can experience freedom sooner than if we postpone it by distracting or avoiding it. Awareness is here to help us know that discomfort is temporary.
Feel
Mark Cuban once said on Shark Tank,
"Feel the pain now of not getting the share you wanted, instead of feeling it much longer later on."
The tricky part is to feel the pain/discomfort in our bodies. It’s tempting to avoid or postpone discomfort, thinking we’ll feel better later. But in reality, it lingers, shaping our entire day. For example, getting up later will lead to a rush, which then might lead to a delay, which then leads to more timely struggles, so by just coping with the initial discomfort of getting from warm to cold, we get to enjoy the rest of the day with more ease and peace.
The key to "Welcome Discomfort, Welcome Freedom" is to find a way to be okay with our bodies' discomfort. We should ask ourselves what feels uncomfortable and move through the discomfort to find what will lead us to inner freedom.
Reagan reminds us that peace isn’t about avoiding conflict but learning to handle it, and Cuban highlights the power of facing discomfort now rather than suffering later. Both point to the same truth—when we stop resisting discomfort, we move toward lasting freedom.
Discomfort is temporary. Freedom can last.
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