GET UNCOMFORTABLE
Adventure starts with going against what makes you comfortable!
I recently went to my son's soccer game against a team he had once played for. The team manager is a man whom I had a falling out with a few years back. We had a confrontation over a soccer related issue that I was very passionate about and his response to me fueled my passion. Well let's tell it like it is... he really ticked me off!
I had not seen him in 2 years but there he was on the sideline watching. For 2 years I had wanted to unleash my passion/ anger on him. I stood there behind the goal and watched for probably 10 minutes. This was a safe place and I was COMFORTABLE!! But the problem was, God was making my heart UNCOMFORTABLE. I was in a safe comfortable spot for my mind and my ego but I could tell God was making my HEART uncomfortable. I knew he was telling me to GO. To JUMP IN and talk to this man who had become my enemy.
I have come to understand that you are usually uncomfortable for a reason. Remember that first phone call to the girl or guy you had a crush on. The discomfort of dialing those numbers was so great it made a simple task seem insurmountable. What was the reason for this discomfort? It was certainly a fear of rejection. No one wants to be rejected. Think back at all the things that make you feel uncomfortable and there is always a reason. A fear of failure or being embarrassed or exposed, there's always a reason.
We have to identify that reason and overcome it. That is the stone that blocks the pathway to our great adventure. How do we overcome it?
Realize that getting UNCOMFORTABLE can truly make you feel... uncomfortable.
Neuroscience has shown that if we occupy our brain with something else, we become less aware of what makes us uncomfortable. So I try to occupy my brain with God by allowing him to speak into my heart. This allows the brain that God created in me to be transformed by the creator so that I can get more comfortable with being uncomfortable. And with this I can reach my potential.
When I was a first year resident I was terrified to be on call overnight. I was afraid I didn't have all the answers and wasn't ready to make the hard decisions. It made me so uncomfortable. But I had a senior resident who was on call at home for me every night that I could call for help. He was so confident of what needed to be done when I called him. I once asked him how is it that you are so comfortable in these pressure situations? His response was, "You just have to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable!" That has always stuck with me. I think that I have become comfortable with being uncomfortable by giving my discomfort to God.
The reason I felt uncomfortable going to this man at the soccer game was that I knew he needed forgiveness and so did I. But I wasn't sure I was ready to release this grudge. But I focused on God and asked for strength to get uncomfortable. I walked right over and went right to him and God released all the anger I had been holding and allowed me to give grace. We talked a long time and the result was restoration. For him AND ME!
God will call us to GET UNCOMFORTABLE. Think of Moses. Moses was comfortable in the desert with his wife and kids and had all he needed. He was safe and had a comfortable life. But God had a GRAND ADVENTURE for him and it would require him to GET UNCOMFORTABLE. Moses had good reason to be uncomfortable about this mission. He was afraid of rejection, afraid of speaking, afraid of retaliation to name a few. But God told him the thing he needed most...I will be with you. And that allows you to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Sometimes the adventure makes you uncomfortable because it's new and unfamiliar. Perhaps it's not frightening but just out of the familiar "comfort zone". In an article in Forbes magazine Sujan Patel explained, "Putting yourself in new and unfamiliar situations triggers a unique part of the brain that releases dopamine, nature’s make-you-happy chemical. Here’s the mind-blower; that unique region of the brain is only activated when you see or experience completely new things." It is dopamine that gives us that rush of pleasure that excitement in our heart. It is this type of reaction that fuels our passion.
So on this great adventure there will be times that we just have to jump in and GET UNCOMFORTABLE! Only then will we truly be able to fulfill the potential we were given!!
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.
- Seneca
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