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159. Comfortable with Uncomfortable · Impact Ready

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  Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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  your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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  Let's explore the power of showing up with intention and
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  energy each day. This is for those who seek to
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  make life truly meaningful. Get ready for.
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  Impact. Hello and good morning.
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  Thank you for being here and for listening to the show.
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  In this episode today, we're going to revisit an old idea
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  that we've talked about before. It's the idea that we call
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  tolerance to extremity. And it's basically the idea that
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  you do things that are hard on purpose.
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  You intentionally push yourself or stretch yourself so that you
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  can build a tolerance to doing things that are uncomfortable.
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  And when you build that tolerance, you become more
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  resilient and adapted to conditions that challenge you.
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  And the reason we're going to talk about this again is because
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  there is a lot of benefit to this.
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  And one of the great things about being a human, but also
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  one of the tricky things about being human is that we are very
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  adaptive. And because we are so adaptive,
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  we can adapt in either direction.
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  We can adapt to become strong and agile, to run fast, to think
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  quickly, to listen attentively, to focus and track multiple
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  things at once, to be empathetic, to be intuitive.
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  We can adapt in all these positive directions so that
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  we're functioning at a higher level, so that we have more
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  self-awareness, so we take more ownership, so that we have a
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  better influence and effect on the people around us.
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  But we can also adapt in the other direction.
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  We can become addicted to being comfortable all the time.
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  We can become less aerobically fit because we're sitting for
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  long periods of time during the day.
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  Our muscles can get weak and used to being in poor posture
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  from looking at our phones or you know, sitting in chairs with
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  our chins dropped to our chest staring at the screens in front
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  of us. We can get acclimated to only a
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  certain range of temperature because we live in temperature
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  controlled spaces. We can get used to not talking
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  to people like my children did during COVID.
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  We can look get used to not looking people in the eyes, not
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  solving problems, not working outside in the yard, not having
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  to work in teams or think creatively.
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  We can adapt to 5 to 7 second videos and develop very short
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  attention spans. All of those things we can adapt
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  to. The list can go on and on, and
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  it goes in either direction, but the most important thing to take
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  away from this is that we are adaptive.
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  Our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our spirits are so
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  intrinsically genius and beautiful.
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  That we could be so resilient and so adaptive is a miracle in
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  and of itself. How incredible that our biology
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  can adapt and upgrade. The more we train and exercise,
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  the better we eat, the better we sleep, the better we manage our
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  stress and our emotions. How incredible is that?
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  And we take this for granted. We take for granted that we are
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  always taking in information into our bodies, and our bodies
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  are always processing and filtering data coming into our
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  sensory systems. It it's such a shame because
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  what's happening right now in society is that people are
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  getting very maladapted and deconditioned because we're not
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  pursuing the things that are uncomfortable or that challenge
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  us. We're not looking to develop a
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  tolerance to extremity. And when that happens, we become
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  less resilient overall. As a society, as a community of
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  people, as an individual, we are less resilient biologically and
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  physically. We are less fit, less strong.
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  We are more prone to infection and injury.
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  We are less mentally tough and resilient.
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  We get derailed easily by stress and emotional challenge.
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  We can't handle the struggle that comes our way.
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  And I'm not saying this to be a downer, I'm just saying this so
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  that we can call it out for what it is.
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  Because remember, this can go in either direction, the positive
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  or the negative, and it doesn't have to be the way that it is.
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  We actually do have the ability to choose to get uncomfortable
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  on our own accord. One of my coaches always says
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  that you can face challenge on demand or when shit hits the
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  fan. And basically what he's saying
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  is it's going to happen. Challenge either way because
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  challenge is part of life. So you can either choose it on
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  purpose, you can get really good at handling it, you can put in
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  the reps, put in the practice and become stronger and more
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  resilient by your own choice, challenge on demand, or you can
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  be forced to do it because of what life hands you when shit
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  hits the fan. And I have to tell you, I've
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  been in both positions and it feels a lot better to choose the
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  challenge on your own accord rather than being the one who is
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  reacting to when shit hits the fan all the time.
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  When you can be in the practice of getting comfortable with
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  being uncomfortable, you get to be the one in charge, and that's
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  a much different energy than being the one reacting all the
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  time. Have you ever had a situation in
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  your life where you've intentionally chosen to do
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  something hard? Maybe you moved to a different
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  country where you didn't know anybody and you had to figure
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  out how to live on your own in a foreign place, how to navigate
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  traveling around a city and ordering food and doing daily
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  activities and making new friends and learning language.
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  That's hard. Maybe you've started a business
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  and you've had to figure out how to survive and make it on your
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  own, with all the challenges of starting something new, figuring
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  out the technology and making the contacts in your network, or
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  figuring out sales and marketing.
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  Maybe you've decided you want to get in great shape, and so you
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  intentionally chose to start to work out five days a week, and
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  you changed your nutrition and your health habits.
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  All that stuff is really freaking hard, right?
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  It is, of course, but when you choose it, when you purposely
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  decide this is what I'm going to do, there's a different energy
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  to it than if somebody were to force it upon you.
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  And I know that you can feel the difference between those two
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  things. Now think about a time when some
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  challenge happened to you out of the blue.
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  Think about a time when maybe you weren't feeling resilient
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  and you weren't feeling prepared for this challenge that came at
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  you. What were the thoughts that came
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  to your mind? What were the things that you
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  said to yourself? If you're like anybody else, it
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  often sounds like this. This isn't fair.
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  Why is this happening to me? How come I have to deal with
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  this? What did I do to deserve this?
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  That kind of challenge can feel disempowering, and it often has
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  us feeling like we are the victim to life's circumstances,
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  especially if we haven't been training for discomfort,
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  especially if we're not comfortable with being
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  uncomfortable. But consider this, this is cool.
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  This is exciting to me. When you've prepared for
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  discomfort, when you've practiced to build a tolerance
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  to extremity, meaning you've purposely exposed yourself and
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  made yourself uncomfortable and built a tolerance to that
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  discomfort. When you face those times in
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  life when things get thrown at you out of the blue, guess what
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  happens? It doesn't hurt so bad.
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  It doesn't freaking hurt so bad. You have a tolerance for
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  extremity. You have a tolerance for the
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  discomfort and the challenge and the stress and even suffering.
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  It doesn't rattle you and feel so earth shaking to you because
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  you've experienced discomfort before and because you've chosen
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  it in the past, you've purposefully asked for it and
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  built it into your life. You have a confidence around it.
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  You have a confidence around your ability to handle
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  discomfort that other people don't have when they don't do
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  this, when they don't purposefully get uncomfortable.
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  Do you see how important this can be?
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  This is so much more than adaptability.
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  This is about being able to live a life where you can feel peace
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  and calm even when there's a storm raging outside.
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  It's about creating and designing a life of your own
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  accord that is joyful and fulfilled.
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  And it's not just reacting or reactive to the circumstances
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  that are coming down the pipeline.
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  It's about being purposeful about the relationships that you
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  build and the person that you are day in, day out.
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  And it makes you unshakeable. You become this steadfast,
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  grounded, consistent version of yourself and the version of
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  yourself that showing up is closer to your best self, the
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  best version of you. And that's what this episode is
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  really about. It's about being comfortable
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  with the uncomfortable, yes. It's about putting in the reps
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  and the practice to build a tolerance to extremity, yes.
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  But for the purpose of building a life you want and becoming the
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  version of yourself that feels the best to you so that we can
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  look back on our lives and think, I did that the way that I
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  wanted to, and I loved my life. I love my relationships.
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  I love the effort that I put in and the opportunities that I
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  created and, and the way that I walked into all of those rooms
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  that I walked into. So my challenge to you this week
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  is to think about how can I get more comfortable with being
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  uncomfortable? How could I stretch myself a
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  little bit, give myself my own little stretch assignment in my
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  life. Maybe it's with my health or my
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  fitness or my nutrition. Maybe it's trying something new
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  and getting out of my comfort zone and doing something that
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  feels hard or scary. Maybe it's taking that
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  international trip that you've never taken before.
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  Maybe it's having the conversation or starting a new
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  relationship. The scary stuff is often the
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  stuff that grows us. So maybe you can look at that
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  and decide what is it that I've been avoiding because I'm
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  scared? I guarantee you will mine out
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  something in there that feels important to you and something
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  that could really move the needle towards you becoming a
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  more resilient, mentally, physically strong version of
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  yourself. So I hope that helps and spurs
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  on some insights. Let's get comfortable with being
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  uncomfortable and build that tolerance to extremity.
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  Thank you so much for being here.
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  I'm grateful for you. I hope you have an awesome week
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  and thank you for being ready to impact.
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  Thanks for listening to Impact Ready.
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  I hope today's episode inspired you to.
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  Own your impact and recognize that you are powerful.
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  By elevating our energy and awareness.
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  We can. Create exponential change in
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  this life. If you enjoyed today's insights,
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  share them with a friend and subscribe to.
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  The show for more I truly appreciate.
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  You thanks again for being here.