It’s Okay To Be Uncomfortable

No one wants to feel uncomfortable anymore.

I get it. I am not particularly fond of feeling uncomfortable either. It’s an uneasy feeling, awkward, tense, anxiety-producing. It’s – well – uncomfortable.

But that’s okay. We need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. In fact, being uncomfortable can be a good thing.

As a kid, I was painfully shy. (No one who knows me now believes me – but it was true!)  Being in a room full of strangers and being asked to speak could make me literally break out in hives. I was that uncomfortable.

I have been uncomfortable every time I have started a new job, met a client for the first time, or hit publish on an episode of my podcast. 

What if I fail? 

What if they hate me? 

What if no one listens to the episode?

As a kid growing up during the Vietnam War, I remember every Friday at the end of the evening news there would be a scroll with the names of all the soldiers who had been killed or missing in action that day. There was no music bed behind it, no warning from the anchor that what you were about to see might make you feel uncomfortable. Just silence and a slow scroll so you could pause and feel the weight of each name.

It was really uncomfortable to watch but it was also a good thing. It gave a young girl a global perspective of how cruel the world can be and how lucky she was to be safe and cared for.

We’re living in a time where there are constant disclaimers that what we are about to say or show you might make you feel uncomfortable. We are told to steer clear of anything that makes us the slightest bit uneasy – which can be just about everything in these crazy and challenging times.  

But that’s not how we learn or how we grow or how anything changes.

Friday I was uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. I  had rented studio time to record the audio version of my book.

I shouldn’t have felt so uncomfortable. I’ve been podcasting for three and a half years. I am approaching my hundredth episode. I like recording audio.  But none of that logic was registering with me. Just the knot in my stomach and the conversation in my head second guessing myself.

I was uncomfortable. An audiobook is uncharted territory. I’ve written books and published books but I never did an audio book. I should feel a little uncomfortable.

If I’m not, I’m not growing, I’m not learning, I’m not pushing myself past my boundaries. So I read the chapter I wrote on being present and getting out of your head and into the moment and listened to my own advice before starting. (Note: It worked!)

It’s okay to be uncomfortable. Really. Sheltering ourselves or others from being uncomfortable – that’s not how we create change – for ourselves or the world. No doubt sometimes being uncomfortable can signal danger but more often than not it’s a sign you’re on to something good.

Does that make sense? You tell me.

This article was originally published on Does This Make Sense? on Substack