We’ve all heard the phrase ‘anything worth doing is worth doing well’. I think this phrase comes from people that are willing to live with the discomfort and sacrifice for the hard work it takes to achieve something difficult. Personal bests, moving to the next level of your sport, making it to the Canadian Championships, winning a title. All of these things take immense focus, determination and discomfort.
But not everyone is cut out to reach these heights. Many people live with the status quo because change is difficult. In fact, many people don’t even try because fear of failure holds them back or they are not ready or willing to feel the discomfort that comes with change.
How many people do you see walking around in discomfort? Most of them won’t ever seek to improve how they move because they have a personal narrative that they’re just ‘always going to be this way’. Or athletes settle with never fully healing an injury and go through a revolving door of physio appointments because they have a personal narrative that their discomfort is just something that’s ‘part of the sport’.
It doesn’t have to be this way. If you truly want to change something about your life, whether it’s to chase a big goal or just learn how to move a little better, it’s going to be uncomfortable. They say that the road to comfort is crowded. Looking around at your fellow humans on the street complaining of knee pain, back pain, neck pain, they are just trying to feel comfortable with what their bodies have chosen to do to get them around. But moving inefficiently is going to lead to worse problems down the road. What is comfortable now won’t be comfortable years from now.
That personal best or next level in your sport comes from discomfort right now. But I’m willing to bet that there is even more discomfort from future regret than from doing it today.