What if someone told you they decided to keep shooting heroine instead of making a change in their life because they’d rather stay with what’s comfortable?

It’s easy to see the flaw in that logic, right?

Yet, when it comes to our relationships or careers, we often pretend we’re choosing between a risky, yet potentially more fulfilling path vs choosing the “comfortable” path.

While the consequences may not appear as severe, the flaw in the logic is the same: what’s comfortable now may be very uncomfortable in the future.

It’s easy to see this playing out all around us.

Comfortable food choices can lead to debilitating conditions later in life.

Comfortable career choices can lead to waking up one day in a spiral of depression because life feels meaningless.

Comfortable relationship choices can lead to a turbulent, drawn-out process of untangling your mental, emotional, and financial life from another person.

Now, even if one does end up in a situation like the above, it’s possible to get through it. Plenty of people have used these experiences to catapult their lives forward and create a more fulfilling life. For others, it’s too painful to come back from.

The question is, do you want to consciously choose the discomfort or do you want to wait until it happens to you?

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” – Haruki Murakami

When we make a conscious choice to lean into discomfort, we reduce our suffering.

Remember, choosing discomfort doesn’t have to be a big event, and it’s not about doing hard things solely for the sake of doing hard things.

It’s about leaning into the little experiences in our daily lives. The restlessness that comes at the end of our workday. The anxiety around having a difficult conversation. The fear around taking the first step in a new direction.

On the other side of discomfort is a feeling of freedom unlike any other.

The more we choose it, the easier it becomes, because we start to trust what’s on the other side.

See the choice for what it is. I promise if you choose discomfort now, you won’t regret it later.