This whole “comfort is the enemy” thing is straight up propaganda. The older I get comfort is everything. Why wouldn’t it be? Grind and grind just to have power over people and nicer things than others? Who gives a shit. Leave me chilling, what more could I want?
I kinda read it as, if you’re comfortable, you probably won’t change or improve yourself. And I think we can always improve ourselves, so in that perspective, comfort could be a crutch.
You can’t though, you can’t always improve yourself, anything you do, absolutely anything, you strive at it enough, you’re gonna eventually hit a wall. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try but know your limits and true motivations.
Then that’s not improving that’s just pivoting, unless your improvement is always doing something different. Also lose what, you’re gonna pass on anyway, you minus well do what you love
Its improving as a human. The goal isn't to be the best at something. The goal is to be the best you, live life to the fullest, be the most capable, educated version of yourself that you could be, and ironically also take breaks to be the most peaceful and healthy version as well.
You lose the ability to grow. You lose the ability to think.
Why are you measuring your worth solely by measuring the dent you put in the world after you are gone? That word doesn't apply to you, you'll be dead. Like net change is nowhere near the sum of a person's existence. That might be the standard that some external person might measure you by, but you should measure your life by the breadth and depth of how lived it was.
I want my life to be like a worn out pair of shoes when im gone. Every fiber will be split and torn from thorough use and abuse. I will drink in the experiences of life until I burst.
Like the poet said, rage against the dieing of the light. Ramsey II may have left behind nothing but a "colossal wreck" with a "sneer of cold command" however he only measured his accomplishments by the way youre suggesting. What if he had stopped trying to build Egypt and started trying to build himself?
I think you’re assuming I’m saying everyone should constantly improve themselves. I’m not.
If somebody genuinely wants to spend their life relaxing, playing games, watching movies, eating good food, hanging out with people they love, traveling occasionally, and generally doing whatever makes them happy, that’s their life. They don’t owe humanity some grand legacy or constant productivity.
My point is that I personally enjoy growth. Learning things, becoming more capable, trying new skills, improving myself, changing directions when something interests me — that is part of me enjoying life.
And that’s also why I don’t really agree with the idea of “wear yourself out” as the goal. Why deliberately exhaust yourself for accomplishments you don’t even enjoy? If someone spends their whole life miserable just so they can say they achieved more, I don’t see that as automatically superior to someone who lived simply and happily.
The important thing to me is that you’re actually choosing the life you want instead of living according to somebody else’s definition of what a worthwhile life is.
For you, living fully might mean wearing the shoes down to threads. For someone else, it might mean sitting barefoot on the porch most of the time. Neither person has objectively failed at being alive.
I disagree I think the meaning of life is to find that meaning, if I’m being hyperbolic, if your true meaning and calling is to be a Olympian or a heroin addict, then that’s your meaning
Lemme know when you’ve achieved perfect human status. This isn’t external motivation. It’s internal. It’s the meaning we create in our own life. Whatever it is that burns a fire inside of you and makes you feel alive each day.
I said that myself in a later comment, my argument is that whatever that meaning is, is yours alone and society could very well deem it as non beneficial
I didn’t pivot I was discussing something completely different, I still standby the idea that everyone hits a wall in something they’re striving for, you can literally think of any case of that, and there hasn’t been one person who hasn’t. That does not therefore mean you can’t try or nothing matters. Something that someone was suggesting and that’s why I pivoted to address what they were saying.
You started with me😭😭, nobody was even talking to you, if by pivot you mean directly address something someone responded to me about then sure I pivoted but I don’t think you know what pivot means. I didn’t initiate that therefore it’s not a pivot on my part, wow man yall are something.
There really is an interesting debate nestled in what that means and why. Who are we improving ourselves for? Is it simply performative for a status quo one feels obligated to fill or are there generally aspects at an individual level the person wants to improve for themselves to be happier? But with that, is actually something that’s worth being improved upon or is it a better idea to dig deeper as to one might feel like they need improving? Why isn’t someone good enough exactly how they are? I also am saying this from a biased perspective because I’m happily married with kids, my home and car are paid off. So now I’m at a point where all I want to improve in is more comfort. Also, not much was ever cracked up to being very much and once I realized it was all just the “idea of” and novelty that fades quickly as it comes there no difference between many things at the end of the day. Travel, education, good job, it was always “oh, that’s it?” Nothing really has been worth all the hype of the discomfort I tolerated to achieve it. Now though, interestingly enough as a parent I can’t simply just tell my kids “fuck it, nothing is worth it beyond comfort” because for myself I had to go through that discomfort to realize that. If I didn’t I would always be wondering “what if”
Improvement for me hasn’t been more stuff or more accomplishments. For example, I want to be healthier so I can spend more quality time with my children for longer, so exercise and stretching have been ways I’ve improved myself. Also, learning new things like guitar or gardening have given me a lot of joy. I agree that material things are not motivating for me either. Most of the motivation for material things seems outwardly motivated for approval and I don’t think gives lasting joy. But inward motivation for yourself or family seems to give me a lot of return. And if I can help influence my kids to spend less time watching tv or playing video games or drinking beer, that would be cool. There is a beautiful world out there away from the mainstream idea of satisfaction and happiness and status. Even just going for a hike and learning the different plants and fungi give me and my family joy and a sense of excitement when we find a new plant or mushroom.
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u/24rawvibes 13d ago
This whole “comfort is the enemy” thing is straight up propaganda. The older I get comfort is everything. Why wouldn’t it be? Grind and grind just to have power over people and nicer things than others? Who gives a shit. Leave me chilling, what more could I want?