Discussion #26: The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort To Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self, by Michael Easter

Welcome to Citizen Scholar! Since launching five months ago we&#8217;re reaching hundreds of people a week, so we thank you for your support. If you enjoy our writing on civic virtue and individual excellence, we humbly ask you to share Citizen Scholar with your family members and friends who may enjoy it. The contents of the audio and text formats are identical and meant to accommodate your preferences. Please let us know if you have any feedback - we&#8217;re always looking for ways to improve!<br/><br/>Introduction<br/><br/>&#8220;In our pursuit of better living we&#8217;ve allowed comfort to calcify our natural movements and strengths. Without conscious discomfort and purposeful exercise &#8211; a forceful push against comfort creep &#8211; we&#8217;ll only continue to become weaker and sicker.&#8221;<br/><br/>Michael Easter started his journey toward this conclusion after reassessing his own life as a journalist and university lecturer in a wealthy country. A Sunday morning hangover convinced him to turn his life around, as it does for many. He recovered from alcoholism and, in spite of experiencing extreme discomfort in the process, gained a new clarity and self-awareness. His attention then turned outward.<br/><br/>&#8220;I awoke in a soft bed in a temperature-controlled home. I commuted to work in a pickup with all the conveniences of a luxury sedan. I killed any semblance of boredom with my smartphone. I sat in an ergonomic desk chair staring at a screen all day, working with my mind and not my body. When I arrived home for work, I filled my face with no-effort, high caloric foods that came from Lord knows where. Then I plopped down on my overstuffed sofa to binge on television streamed down from outer space. I rarely, if ever, felt the sensation of discomfort. The most physically uncomfortable thing I did, exercise, was executed inside an air-conditioned building as I watched cable news channels that are increasingly bent on confirming my worldview rather than challenging it. I wouldn&#8217;t run outsid