NO ONE FEELS LIKE IT!

You woke up this morning, your nose is stuffy, and you are groggy. Immediately your voice says, "I do not feel like______________" Fill in the blank.  

The entire universe will conspire to talk you out of doing what YOU, the real YOU, want. Even your friends and family will conspire to keep you stagnant. "It’s so cold, I do not blame you for not going to the gym," "You work HARD and It has been a long week for you,” "You have been through a lot; take a break." I could go on. They mean well, of course, but ultimately, they instinctually conspire to help keep you in your comfort zone.  

The fact is that even your body is wired to keep you IN your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is a learned behavioral pattern where your actions and behaviors fit a routine and way that minimizes stress and risk. This then gives you a state of mental security. The comfort zone disguises itself as happiness, low anxiety, and reduced stress. Anxiety and excitement are basically the same things neurologically. So, our body steers away from anxiety and excitement.  

To grow, however, we need anxiety—a space where our stress levels are slightly higher than average. This space is called "Optimal Anxiety," just outside our comfort zone. This is where the magic happens.  

This brings us to one of my favorite quotes. "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization. . .. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."  

— Abraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality  

Maslow is most well-known for his hierarchy of needs. Most of you have seen this pyramid.  

The theory of the pyramid is that to live a fulfilled life, one must reach the top, which can only be called by mistakes, risk, and constant operation outside of the comfort zone. In fact, to move beyond resiliency and into anti-fragility with a mindset that all challenges and obstacles make us stronger, wiser, and closer to our goals. For me, that is self-actualization.  

So, the next time you hear that inner voice say, "I don't feel like it." Smile like you would at a toddler who doesn't want to put shoes and a coat on when it's 20 degrees out. Then say, "I know you don't, and that is why it will be GREAT when we are done! So “Bring it on!”.