The Comfort Crisis

Let me ask you something: When was the last time you were uncomfortable? 

When was the last time you were cold for an extended period of time? Or hungry? Or thirsty? Or hot? Or working so hard at something that your heart feels as if it’s beating out of your chest? 

I do hope, since you are reading this, that you’ve been uncomfortable, at least a little, during your workouts this week. But is that the only discomfort you ever feel for an extended period of time?

I’m reading a book called The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. It talks about how our propensity for being comfortable at all times may be causing depression, obesity and other issues. Our ancestors, he argues, were constantly uncomfortable, and we evolved learning how to adapt. Now, in the modern world, we eat too much and think we’re chilly in 60 degrees, throwing off our instinctual need to deal with discomfort. It does us a lot of good, he argues, to be uncomfortable at times. 

I am a big advocate for running outside in bad weather. It makes us uncomfortable. That makes us tougher and prepares us for anything a race throws our way. 

Think about ways that you can be a little uncomfortable in your life. Allowing yourself to be hungry at times, he says, may be a solution to aging. Adapting to cold weather, he says, may help us burn calories more. And then there’s a misogi. 

A misogi is a challenge so difficult that you have a good chance of failing it. The point isn’t the victory at the end. The point is to feel some real discomfort and dealing with it.

There are only two rules to a misogi: 

1. Do something really fucking hard. 

2. Don’t die. 

This is why I wouldn’t recommend climbing Everest as a misogi. It’s true that the odds are finishing it are low, which fits the definition, but the odds are too high that you will die. 

Number one on many lists of possible misogis is, of course, an ultramarathon. I don’t think ultramarathons need to be miserable, especially with my help, but they do require a tolerance for discomfort. Climbing a 14er requires the same tolerance. 

Think about what could be a misogi for you. And I don’t think a marathon counts: That’s really fucking hard, but the odds of finishing are too high, especially if you train with me. 

One thing I love about climbing a mountain or running an ultra is being uncomfortable throughout the day and then slowly entering my comfortable world again. It usually starts with a cold chocolate milk, continues with a hot shower and comfy clothes and then a good meal, followed by bed. Sometimes I have eaten the good meal in bed. 

Being uncomfortable has a lot of benefits, but the best one, I think, is it makes me appreciate my creature comforts that much more.