Times of Stress Are Signals for Growth.

This article is about sitting with discomfort because we really aren’t very good at it!  Before any significant change in our lives, there is this period of uncertainty, discomfort, and unease.  Often, we don’t know what is happening and why we feel this way, but we can zoom out and start to realise that these thoughts and feelings are the universe's way of telling us change is afoot.

We are a little bit programmed these days to seek comfort, build a comfortable life, income, some sustainability, and predictability.  But on the flip side, there is a constant narrative of getting out of our comfort zones to grow, that there's no growth in comfort and to embrace change.

One of the issues is that often we don’t really and truly embrace discomfort and change, lots of people don’t actually like change, and really, truly, not a lot of people can sit in discomfort for periods of time.

Think back to the last time you literally sat in silence and stillness, doing nothing at all apart from observing your thoughts and letting them come and go. Generally speaking, it is something we don’t do enough of.  We live in a distracted world with our screens dominating so much of our attention we’ve lost track of how to sit with (and cope) with uncomfortable situations.

It is too easy to just occupy our minds these days, often with other people's lives, social media is a nightmare for this. But what if we made some different choices?

Next time you feel those waves of discomfort, boredom, worry, or unease, sit with it. Just be still, become curious about those thoughts and feelings and ask yourself ‘I wonder what is building under the surface causing these feelings of discomfort?’

Jay Shetty said recently on Novak Djokovic podcast “Either you’re about to take a risk in life, and you’re scared. Or you’ve just taken it.”

So, the bad news is more discomfort is just around the corner! The good news is that so is great change.

May as well learn to sit with it and embrace it to make the ride a bit smoother and more enjoyable.