It was a birthday gift. The only exception is that unlike most of the other things I got, I ended up using this one. In an attempt to minimize the expansion of middle section of my body, I decided to implement principles I learnt from the gifted book by focusing on exercising regime more diligently.
I was able to get through week one without too much difficulty because I was relatively fit from years of morning walks. However, as weeks progressed, the routine became increasingly difficult and monotonous. My mind began to scream at me to give up. When that didn’t work, I was giving myself all sorts of excuses to just stop what I had so industriously initiated.
I went back to the basics and decided to dig deeper to understand what keeps our great athletes going. Not only do they have to go through a lot of physical labor in order to stay fit, there is also so much emotional and mental stress associated. I had none of it, but still failing to keep the momentum high. I happened to come across the story of David Goggins, a retired US Navy Seals Officer who is more popularly known as the toughest man on earth.
Going through this personal story gave me goosebumps (I am not exaggerating). All through his life, this man chose to do things that made him physically, mentally and emotionally uncomfortable. As a child, he was brutally abused and beaten by his father but as grew older he took everything in his stride. He has reached a point in his life where the only thing he is focused on is to find the right set of challenges that make him uncomfortable.
Isn’t that diametrically opposite to how you and I think? Looking out for ACs to beat the heat, buying expensive gears that are sold to us on the pretext of comfortability, reaching out to medical sources on the slightest hint of bodily issues- all of this makes us feel that seeking comfortability is the thing to go for!
While I am not asking you to shell out usage of all these materialistic possessions, I do feel that we need to be on the lookout for uncomfortable situations in our abstract world at least. This means to actively look out and consciously choose to do things that you wouldn’t think of otherwise.
While consciously reading through the gifted book, I realized that since pandemic hit I was rarely getting out of my comfort zone anymore. Instead, I wanted to feel safe. So, I stayed in my house, talked to the same people, and participated in the same comfortable activities. Day in. And day out. Very little in my life had changed in months (if not years). So, I set out to remedy the problem. I worked to step out of my comfort zone again in small, tangible ways. They were not grand gestures but they certainly made a huge impact in my day. Today I can proudly state that I have been to knock out ten things that would have usually scared the hell out of me. Looking back at those items makes me feel more alive than I have been in a long time!
This content was originally published on my LinkedIn profile.
