Short-Term Discomfort

[Facing Fears – II]

Getting a good grade on a test.
Decreasing your 5k time.
Passing the certification process.
Developing a relationship with your neighbor.
Understanding that complex theorem.

All these goals require some short-term discomfort. Sure, the level of discomfort varies widely, but the fact remains: reaching the end, the goal, or the summit, will always include some trial along the way.

The trial is often internal not external. We have an aversion to the very means required to arrive at our goal. A faster 5k time requires regular running, which if done properly, requires fatigue, lactic acid, stretching, and sweating. It might be one's aversion to sweating, not necessarily the sweat, that makes the process temporarily uncomfortable. (Some people love to sweat!) The 5k remains the goal, but facing and exploring and experiencing up close the sweat is the real work.

Facing our fears is an aversive discipline because it requires short-term discomfort. The goal is to habituate ourselves to not experience the fear or anxiety, but like so many worthwhile goals, the means of facing the fear feels awful.

The trigger of the short-term discomfort is where the real work is. Settle in. We must explore it up close. And we can't do that without facing it.

(By the way, this applies to institutions as well.)