I have to confess I've been feeling really unhappy with where I am in my life lately. I am nowhere near where I thought I'd be at 25. I've just been stewing in my own bitterness and anger over this a lot: I'm sick of my noisy neighborhood with the gross Latino guys, having to share a living space, worrying about whether I'll find parking within walking distance to my apartment... The list goes on.
When I visited my parents' house last weekend, I caught myself thinking, "Wow, this big clean house, the quiet, the infinite amounts of parking, Target..." I mean, Target? Really? Do I really want to move back to the boring-ass suburbs for the sake of Target and other accessible-but-mediocre franchises? The whole point of constantly stretching out to, and then finally being in LA was so I could escape the monotony, to work towards my goals, to avoid being in my twenties and thinking that the Loco Cantina* on a Friday night is the pinnacle of my week.
My friend sent me a link to this blog post on comfort. It made me more accepting, more positive about the seemingly-large-but-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things-small discomforts I'm dealing with right now. Here's the bit that got me:
“We live in a society where comfort has become a value and a life goal. But comfort reduces our motivation for introducing important transformations in our lives. Sadly, being comfortable often prohibits us from chasing our dreams. Many of us are like lions in the zoo: well-fed but sit around passively stuck in a reactive rut. Comfort equals boring shortsightedness, and a belief that things cannot change. Your comfort zone is your home base, a safe place not to stay in, but to return to, after each exhausting and exhilarating expedition through the wilderness of life. Take a look at your life today, if you are enjoying a shelter of comfort, break through it and go outside where life awaits.”I hope you guys feel at least a little bit encouraged by that quote or feel my judgmental eyes burning on your comfortable, lazy ass.
One more thing: After reading that post, I revisited a "This I Believe" essay I heard a couple years ago by movie producer Brian Grazer, titled "Disrupting my comfort zone." As the title suggests, Grazer discusses the perks of discomfort.
*Nightlife in Rancho Cucamonga? Ha!
1 comments:
i REALLY cant believe those thoughts passed through your pretty little head! yes i like that quote because its pretty much true....nightlife in rancho or fontana only if you are into ranchero music....its always going off in my neighborhood on saturday night....hey maybe you should come out and we will crash a party....its not like we would stand out....my eyes are watering from my laughter!
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