Comfort Zone II

Exercise, fitness building, and weight loss are always going to involve stepping outside of our natural comfort zone. We already know the results when we consistently choose what is most comfortable: deconditioning, weight gain, lack of growth. Whenever we're on a growth path - a path that leads us to different results - there is going to be discomfort involved.

 However, we can get to a place where we start to feel "comfortable with discomfort."

I remember when I first got into swimming. For much of my time in the water, I was extremely distressed about exertion and oxygen; wanting to take a breath right away, but having to wait for the next breathing point in the swim stroke (otherwise I'd just get an airway full of water, which didn't exactly help). That feeling of "I want a breath, but I can't take one right now; I'll have to wait" is very uncomfortable on a very primal level. Your body is hollering for oxygen, and you're trying to say "Wait; not yet."

The first time I experienced that discomfort was almost 5 years ago. Hundreds of swim practices, hundreds of thousands of yards, 8 triathlons, and two swim meets. And still, this morning, when I went to swim practice I spent most of the hour in a state of primal discomfort because I wanted to be breathing more than I was.

There's a huge difference between this morning and five years ago, though: five years ago, that oxygen-deprived discomfort was distressing. Now, I've learned to be okay with it. Say it with me: "My body is screaming for oxygen. And I'm okay with that."

There are huge benefits to stretching our comfort zones in this way. For one thing, routine daily activities will be at the "extreme comfort" part of the comfort zone - everyday, minute-by-minute life will start to feel very, very comfortable indeed.

Also, we start to find that other kinds of uncomfortable situations - such as a dreaded meeting with the boss, or confronting the kids about a behavior they need to change, or negotiating a compromise with the beloved but differing-opinion spouse - are much less distressing than they used to be... precisely because we have learned to be more comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

Finally, the biggest reason to do this: if we don't constantly work to expand our comfort zones, their natural tendency is to contract. Today, I'm comfortable sitting in this chair eating pie. After a while, I start to get picky about the pie: this one has too much cinnamon, this one doesn't have that perfect flaky crust, I don't like cherry unless I can have ice cream with it. Then at some point I'm going to find that this chair isn't optimally comfortable: wouldn't I be more comfortable on the couch? And you know, it's kind of a hassle to get up and have to go get my own pie: I need someone who will bring it to me. And wash the plate afterward. Follow this track long enough, and I'm 700 pounds, needing a crane to get out of the house.

The comfort zone is always either expanding or contracting. When the comfort zone gets small, life gets constricted. Eventually the comfort zone becomes a prison. Let's don't allow that to happen. Let's keep stretching our comfort zones.