The Paradox of Discomfort

FereallyRed · 2019-02-13T15:31:07+00:00

There are distinct problems with using intentional discomfort under the guise of self improvement....

The old Fight club adage that self improvement is masturbation.

It's a placeholder, an ego protection to distract us from the fact that we're not really doing anything to head toward a goal. Tolerating discomfort for the sake of tolerating discomfort is insanity. Would you learn Swahili if you're never going to use it? Learn Swahili because you're going to Burundi.

It's like the cold shower crowd. Take it a step further and tell people they should immerse themselves in a tub of ice water for 30 minutes every morning, because that would build even more toughness, right? Nope, just crazy. But if you have a goal of accelerating muscle recovery, then a step toward that goal could very well be enduring the pain of an icebath.

Self improvement implies a deficiency. So what deficiency are you correcting? Again, if you're using an external locus of control, or you think your girlfriend will like you better if you just did X, then you're being a plowhorse. You're striving to be the bestest plowhorse ever, but that's not a goal if you're plowing somebody else's field. Put that energy into reaching the goal of having your own field. Or retiring to become a stud. Or whatever you want to do.

If your world is such that you need to intentionally create adverse conditions to feel like you're doing something, then you need to look at your life and stop spinning your wheels to seek self approval, or worse, external validation. Like the old joke, how do you know if someone's vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you. Your life should be secondarily difficult enough by trying to achieve your goals. If not, a 2 minute cold shower won't fix that.

Finally,

From u/redpillschool himself under posting rules... content guidelines...

But one thing that I've always steered the sub away from was becoming a seddit-style self-help board full of platitudes..

You wrote platitudes.

gaberger1 · 2019-02-13T15:54:50+00:00

Where is the text/article ?

Title	The Paradox of Discomfort
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	8
Comments	6
Date	February 13, 2019 2:30 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/aq753s/the_paradox_of_discomfort/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/the-paradox-of-discomfort.1181651 https://theredarchive.com/post/1181651

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