Comfort Will Not Give You Meaning In Life – Return…

Many folks plan their lives across the pursuit of comfort. Whether it involves work, relationships, or day-to-day residing, all choices are made with the purpose to increase comfort and reduce discomfort. The downside with this method is that comfort will not give you meaning in life. You can have all of the comfort on the planet however nonetheless really feel bored, sad, or depressed.

In 2006, I used to be in a state of utmost consolation. I shared an enormous home with two different folks, had a steady profession that wasn’t notably demanding, owned a automobile and motorbike, and was in a position to take thrilling holidays overseas. I had no pressing considerations moreover securing my subsequent occasion of sex from weekends jaunts into the town. I achieved fairly near the trendy perfect of consolation, and but I noticed little worth in it. Would consolation encourage me? Would it make me a person? Would it give me even the tiniest scrap of life that means? Within two years, I removed most of my possessions and went to South America, the start of an ongoing story of nomadism.

Barcelona, Spain

Today, I discover myself once more in a state of utmost consolation. I dwell in a comfy condo within the middle of an Eastern European metropolis, earn a primary however livable earnings from guide royalties, and obtain a principally steady provide of sex. I expertise little anxiousness or real problem from my residing state of affairs. Was the purpose of my decade overseas merely to breed the consolation I had earlier than I left? How was the identical taste of consolation capable of finding me once more? Am I destined to develop outdated with out ever having actual concern for my survival or materials existence?

Is it not degenerate to hunt consolation, of needing to take a seat and loosen up whereas expending the least quantity of energy attainable, the place your muscle groups bodily degenerate, and the place you need to artificially simulate a non-comfortable life by lifting weights in a company fitness center? The drive to consolation might merely be a relic of our childhood, the place we rushed to our mom’s bosom to isolate ourselves from a world that uncovered our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Comfort is a necessity for mom and the protection she offered us for the majority of our lives, of operating again to the primary secure area now we have ever identified.

Margarita Island, Venezuela (2005)

The first time round, I made consolation a purpose, however the second time I didn’t. When your capability to earn a livable wage surpasses a sure threshold, from being born within the resource-rich West or having a reliable IQ, consolation shall be part of your life whether or not you prefer it or not, and any try and combat it should simply reinforce how comfy you actually are. We dwell in a time the place meals and assets have by no means been extra plentiful for the common man, so we won’t face the survival problem of our ancestors irrespective of how onerous we attempt. We are the home cat that may return residence each time issues obtained too chilly or harmful outdoors.

Right now I’m confronted with a call of remaining in my comfy Eastern European surroundings, the place I not need to work onerous to take pleasure in its rewards, or go someplace completely different, difficult, and barely extra uncomfortable. In the previous, I’d choose the difficult surroundings to fulfill an ego that was determined to show it might overcome hurdles by way of onerous work and mind, however I not have something to show. All that’s left is asking if I wish to develop outdated in a vogue so steady that many of the classes I’ve realized in life won’t ever be referred to as upon for my survival, or if I wish to enterprise out into the unknown and dwell a barely extra uncooked and spontaneous existence.

Hvar Island, Croatia

Either manner, I do know that if I deny consolation at this time, it should discover me quickly sufficient. Stepping foot in one other new nation shall be like going to Corporate Gym—I’ll get an intense however brief exercise earlier than strolling again out to take a seat and eat and loosen up and eat limitless leisure. My capability to earn a contemporary wage signifies that consolation will at all times be ready for me. When the world outdoors exhibits me its tooth, I do know that mommy earth is at all times able to take me into her arms and make issues comfy once more.