Learn how embracing challenges and discomfort can strengthen your character, deepen gratitude, and improve your life.
You Can Do Hard Things!
This is a phrase I often say at work and at school. I say it to children who are learning to do new and challenging things. I know for a fact that the things they are struggling with now will be no big deal in a few months because they will learn how to do them and eventually master them.
Challenge Yourself
But do I believe it myself when it comes to my own challenges?
What hard things have you been doing lately?
What new things have you started doing? I’m not talking about hobbies. I’m talking about challenging things that you intentionally bring into your life—things you don’t really enjoy, but you know are good for you.
Find hard things that you are afraid to do. They will make you feel better about yourself. They will lead to better results in the future. Practice discomfort. The other hard things in your life will seem easier. You will begin to believe that if you can do that, you can do anything.
Exercising Fasting
For me, one of those things is fasting. I have been fasting for one day every week for a few years now. It seems that if you do something regularly for a long time, it should become easy. But it doesn’t always work that way.
It’s like exercising—some days you feel like doing it, and some days you don’t. Some days your body cooperates, and some days it doesn’t. But I know that fasting is good for me. It improves my heart and takes me to a new level of gratitude and appreciation for every little good thing in my life.
I Choose Discomfort
In a world where comfort and excess rule our lives, I choose to deliberately experience a little discomfort and a little hunger. It helps me relate more to people who are needy and suffering, those who don’t always get what they want—or even what they need. It also helps me overcome my own struggles and hardships. It reminds me that I will not always get what I want, and that’s not a tragedy—it’s reality.
In a sense, fasting prepares my heart for deprivation, as much as anyone can be prepared for it. It teaches me that my needs do not always have to be met immediately and that I can endure discomfort without falling apart.
Fresh Salad Challenge
Another thing I started doing is beginning at least two of my meals every day with a fresh vegetable salad. It isn’t easy. The salads have to be made fresh every day, and that takes time. And again, sometimes I simply don’t feel like eating fresh vegetables.
By habit, I am often drawn to processed foods and carbohydrates—something boiled, fried, or baked. So this has been a challenge for me over the past few months, both in terms of consistency and personal food preferences. But I am trying to be intentional about it and not skip this important part of my diet.