Comfortable

What things in your life make you feel comfortable? Take a moment to think about them. If you're at all like me, you probably just envisioned a loaded turkey sandwich, your favorite after-a-long-day chair, and a fresh-ground French press steaming in your favorite mugーor at least something similar. Well, whatever it is, I hope you're experiencing it right now, because it may be the last time you ever do so with a clear conscience.

No, I'm not going to lay a guilt trip on you about how other people are utterly without our luxuries, as true as that is. Instead, I'd like to share my latest epiphony: being comfortable is bad for you.

Aside from the worldly attachments we develop when visiting our "comfort caves", being comfortable is detramental in another way. When we feel comfortable, we close our eyes to growth.

By deciding that we're comfortable with our own levels of competence in our respective fields (be they professional or inspired), we stunt ourselves of the drive to exceed our previous performances. For example, my previously mentioned comfrort-vices keep me from discovering new types of sandwiches, gaining new perspective from other seats, and finding out how much I really would enjoy kumquat tea (?). While these things are fairly inconsequential, you can see where applying the same principle on a larger scale might reveal one of human-kind's greatest weaknesses: the lack of drive to improve.

Now, what were those things that make you feel comfortable? Think about them.