Get Comfortable Embracing Discomfort for Personal Growth
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Chapter 1: The Journey of Courtney Dauwalter
Courtney Dauwalter, a remarkable ultrarunner, showcased her extraordinary endurance by winning the 2017 Run Rabbit Run, a 100-mile ultramarathon, even while temporarily losing her vision during the last 12 miles. Just months later, she triumphed in the Moab 240, a staggering 238-mile race featuring over 29,400 feet of elevation gain—surpassing the height of Mount Everest, which stands at 29,032 feet. Dauwalter's record-setting completion time of 57 hours and 55 minutes was an astonishing 10 hours faster than the first male finisher.
Ultrarunners like Dauwalter participate in races that exceed the traditional marathon distance of 26.2 miles. These challenging races often test their limits, as she frequently battles nausea, vomiting every few miles, and endures injuries from falls, dehydration, severe blisters, and even hallucinations.
When faced with difficult moments—inevitable in such races—Dauwalter visualizes what she calls "the pain cave." This mental space is one she has meticulously imagined, and when she enters it, she engages in a powerful visualization exercise where she envisions herself chiseling out new pathways as she delves deeper into both the cave and her psyche. Ultimately, she emerges from this mental ordeal, crossing the finish line as a victor.
What’s truly captivating about Dauwalter is not just her strategic use of the pain cave as a last resort but her active pursuit of it. She finds value in confronting discomfort, as she shares on the “Running On Om” podcast:
“Lately, my main strategy has been to stay in it and fully embrace how much it hurts and how painful that experience is because, in doing that I think it just reminds me that I’m doing something by choice, and to get to that physical state where it hurts that bad means I’ve worked really hard to get to that point and to celebrate kinda being in the pain cave.”
Understanding that discomfort is a natural part of life equips us to expect and manage it more effectively. The better we become at navigating discomfort, the more adept we are at handling it. However, learning to genuinely appreciate discomfort can be transformative.
Section 1.1: Embracing Life's Challenges
In his book Freedom, Sebastian Junger narrates a year spent walking alongside three friends from Washington DC to Pittsburgh along railroad lines. Throughout their journey, they evaded railway police, camped under bridges, and sourced water from rivers and lakes. They often encountered fellow travelers living off the grid—some welcoming, others hostile. At one point, they were even shot at while setting up camp.
To many, this experience might seem dreadful, yet Junger recounts it as one of the highlights of his life:
“We’d each dug our own beds out of the slope so we could sleep without rolling into the river and we were strung along the bank like linked sausages. The fire embers still pulsed, and the night air was soft and benevolent, and it felt like summer waited for us a few days upriver. My dog lay on my ankles, and the three other men shifted and muttered next to me in their sleep. There may be better things than that, but not many.”
Section 1.2: The Value of Discomfort
In any meaningful endeavor, discomfort is inevitable. This principle applies not only to ultrarunning or long-distance trekking but also to parenting, entrepreneurship, grant writing, or achieving quarterly sales goals. Hardships will arise, and the temptation to give up will be strong.
While this may seem disheartening, the reality is quite the opposite. Junger further illustrates this on the Tim Ferriss podcast, stating:
“That’s what life is. That’s the good stuff. And we live in a wealthy society where the good stuff isn’t imposed on us. And we think we’re getting away with something. We’re actually not. We’re actually losing something by not being part of that.”
We often invest excessive energy into evading discomfort, mistakenly equating comfort with happiness. To avoid this common pitfall, it’s vital to grab your tools and venture into the pain cave periodically. That’s where you’ll uncover the most valuable experiences.
Chapter 2: The Good Stuff Awaits
Embrace the challenge and discover the rewards that discomfort can bring.