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There are no shortage of hardships and challenges in the world today. Difficulty and strife have been a part of human existence since our single-celled ancient ancestry but in the last few decades the concept of personal comfort has become cultishly worshiped and petulantly expected to a now self-harming degree. It is not a phenomenon which spontaneously appeared out of nowhere, however. It is something we have been led to over the course of the last two centuries.
Life is a constant process of navigating away from discomfort and towards comfort. In this pursuit humans are not unique. We can see it even at the level of single celled organisms. Being in a state of comfort is more pleasurable, desirable, preferable, no question. Wanting our lives to be discomfort free is a natural impulse which can seem completely rational and healthy, at least on the surface.
Trouble is life is in a constant state of flux and change. And change is always uncomfortable as it unfolds. Even change we desire and which is ultimately a positive enhancement of our lives will always entail discomfort as part of the process. In order to gain a new result, even a vastly better one, we must do something we have not done before. We must break old…