Growth. Making a Change. Learning. Experiencing new things.
It took me until recently to fully understand the simplicity of the fact that we must feel uncomfortable to grow in any capacity of our lives. I was always trying to avoid being uncomfortable by pushing uncomfortable thoughts out, or avoid trying altogether; because if you have to try at anything you will experience some degree of discomfort.
What are we really doing when we avoid feeling uncomfortable?
Limiting ourselves!
The truth is, we can spend our lives running from being uncomfortable or get excited about the idea that IF you feel it, you can know you are growing. You will always get something out feeling uncomfortable whether you’re successful or not: knowledge, experience, skills, or resilience.
Being uncomfortable used to make me feel stressed. Like I was doing something wrong. I never could recognize it as growth. I wasn’t able to attach any positive thought to it. When all along it has been the most powerful, life changing feeling that may exist. Don’t get me wrong, feeling uncomfortable still feels, well, uncomfortable; but when you can recognize the feeling as the growth that’s coming over just the physical feeling of a turning stomach, heart racing, or mind racing, it gives you power. It gives your feelings a positive purpose.
We truly could not grow in any measurable amount in our lives without feeling uncomfortable.
Confident people may feel less scared, but they most likely are attaching uncomfortable feelings to growth and development and an excitement of knowing that feeling uncomfortable, as long as you’re not in true danger, is nothing more than growing pains.
Our bodies don’t decipher between danger and growth. It just knows you haven’t done this before. Is there danger? Could there be danger? Well, just in case there is danger, insert feelings of nausea, jitters, sweat, racing heart.
30 minutes later….
Body: oh, you were just intervening for a new job. Well, that wasn’t dangerous, I just wasn’t sure so I wanted to be there for you in the only way I know how.
Or
Body: oh, you were speaking in front a lot people, we had never done that before, wasn’t sure what to expect. You did great.
The growth part happens after the experience when the body can check that off the list of the unknown and drop it right into the [insert your name] kicks ass at speaking box, so she doesn’t need me to freak out for her during that experience anymore.
It’s not all or nothing. If you are speaking, or trying a new class, performing or learning something new, each time you do it you may feel still uncomfortable but after time it’s less and less because at that point you HAVE grown and you can recognize and measure that by how uncomfortable you felt in the beginning to how little you feel uncomfortable later. And that’s something to be proud of.
Don’t try to fight the feeling of being uncomfortable, grow with it.
