Are you comfortable with being uncomfortable? There lies the key to success!

Usually when we look for ways to get healthy and fit we tend to look for what is more comfortable and less painful. The easy diet (no matter how unnatural it can be), the simple looking exercise we saw on social media, or the no sweat no good eating new pill that promises miraculous results. It is like we are continually running from what makes us move forward. What is it? Sacrifice, struggle, pain, suffering, and hardship.

All of these realities are important to even the most essential things in our lives, like survival. But let me give you another point of view. Take exercise as an example. Did you really think that all of those athletes, models, and media personalities who look (up to contemporary social standards) amazingly fit got there by just wishing it? These people wake up early, or get home a little later and show up to the gym, park, trainer’s studio, swimming pool or whatever their preferred exercise environment is and work hard for it. They find excuses to keep moving no matter what; and if they have a packed day, they see little pocket holes of time to get some workout done throughout the day. They put their bodies through stressful and uncomfortable activities knowing that the results will be excellent.

Typically, we tend to see only the tip of the iceberg, and we create this ideas that those who are successful have an easy, and simple life. The truth is that the struggle, the pain, the hardship, and the suffering never go away. These things stay in our lives until the day we die. However, we can learn to use them as fuel for our success. It is not that life becomes easy, but we get stronger when we choose to face it.

No human has ever been fit by doing the easy stuff. Think of the analogy of the diamond that comes from the piece rock. Beautiful right? We are that piece of rock. Do we want to be a diamond? For that, we MUST accept and embrace the sacrifices and struggle that we have to go through and use these as the triggers for our drive. To gain momentum and begin to polish our future.

A great example is David Goggins who from not being able to run a quarter of a mile at one point, came to be a navy seal who went through hell week, not once but three times. He also became an ultra marathoner; but to do this, he had to go through his deepest and darkest places within. He learned to accept the power of his dark side and use it to his advantage. Check out his story here, and his interview with Joe Rogan here. It is inspiring!

Now, to be fair, I am not promoting self-torture. What I am trying to explain is that there is no such thing as getting fit by sitting down and wanting it, or by exercising one day a week and expecting all the gains in the world. Sometimes even walking could be a sacrifice and psychologically painful for many; and even people that already exercise, sometimes find it challenging to intensify what they do, but the benefits of such activities and changes, no matter how hard they are, surpass any difficulty. It is not easy, it is not quick, and it will be an uphill battle, but it is possible.

Next time you decide to exercise and be healthy, but you feel like something is holding you back, perhaps is not laziness, probably is your fear of being uncomfortable. When that happens, take a deep breath, close your eyes and go deep inside your comfort zone, find your pains, your sufferings, your insecurities and tell them, “There you are, come here. I know you are not going anywhere, so I’m gonna use you as my fuel”. And then, of course, you have to do it.

So get ready and call that coach, jump in that pool and swim, start running, use that old exercise equipment that you hid in the closet, or start dancing. Use the power of your dark side to step into the light.