Get Uncomfortable

Wouldn’t it just be great to have your ideal life, whatever that may look like with no worries in the world. That would be just so comfortable. But therein also lies the problem, comfortability can lead to a status quo of boredom, acceptance and even destruction.

Think about it, when one is in their addiction, they seem comfortable with getting their next high, by any means necessary or easing whatever stress, anxiety of other mental health issues they have with the deception of the euphoria their drug of choice gives them. Those that make their way into recovery came to realize in their own way that they were actually uncomfortably comfortable in the horror story they were acting out. Seeking recovery isn’t comfortable, your commitment to going to meetings isn’t always comfortable, and goodness knows that taking the first step in admitting you have a problem isn’t comfortable at all. For change to happen, you have to put yourself in an uncomfortable position so that true transformation can take place.

Even when you leave treatment or even for those with years of recovery or family members that are advocates and not in recovery themselves, you still have to continue to put yourself in healthy uncomfortable positions for growth. Don’t just settle for something that you’re “ok” with. Challenge yourself to learn and to expand to make your “ok” turn into greatness. In doing this, you allow your gifts to take you to new heights. Oh yes, we’ve all been blessed with gifts; unfortunately some of us allow those gifts to smother themselves under winter’s blizzard and then wonder why “our season” still hasn’t came...well, have you thought about the fact that summer can’t arrive until the showers, pollination and blooming of spring occurs? You have to go through it to get to it….

The status quo is boring, so why stay there….no one is making you stay there, we choose to be there sometimes because we turn our non movement into everybody else’s problem by pointing the finger at what somebody else has said about us or done to us, and we choose to be selectively blind to the fingers pointing back at us.

You have to learn how to get yourself out of the hole of self pity and procrastination. Dream, plan, and execute….dream so big, so that you if you have to trim off a bit, the dream is still grand….plan so that you don’t have to worry. Things don’t always work out, but don’t plan on them not working. Plan with the secret ingredient that most don’t know how to actively use when needed….plan with faith.

Remember, if you have a dream of a garden and purchase plenty of seeds, a hose pipe and all the other equipment you may need, nothing is going to happen as long as those things sit around the house. The same thing is with your dream and your plan, nothing is going to happen until you execute and put some elbow grease in to make things happen. Plant that dream, nourish that plan as often as you can so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor in due time.

The process won’t be comfortable, but as M. Scott once stated: “The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.”

-Trakell