All growth entails discomfort. It may be more bearable or less, but it is always present. Just as all discomfort brings growth.
When you want to learn something, you will have to go through the discomfort of studying or practicing. When you want to become physically stronger, you will have to go through the discomfort of training. When you face misfortune, you have no choice but to go through the discomfort. But that also makes you grow.
If growth is in discomfort, why do we always look for comfort?
The famous “getting out of the comfort zone” is widely accepted nowadays as a path to growth. However, in practice, the general tendency is to avoid discomfort. Could it be that we don’t want to grow? I don’t think so. The temptation of comfort is huge. And comfortable, for redundancy’s sake. Netflix and the couch are stronger than working out or reading a book.
But staying in comfort comes at a high price. Not only do we not grow, but we are also more exposed to suffering. Suffering from the negative emotions that discomfort can cause us: fear, frustration, anxiety, etc.
If we are not used to dealing with discomfort we will suffer much more when it comes in any form. And it will come up for sure, because that’s life.
The key is in the attitude toward discomfort.
Stoics like Seneca not only thought that discomfort had to be dealt with, but that it had to be practiced. They practiced it in different ways, such as wearing light clothing when it was cold, sleeping on the floor, eating the simplest food, or attending an event wearing “different” clothing than was the norm at the time.
“Set aside a number of days during which you will eat the cheapest food, wear your worst clothes, and wonder in the meantime, is this the condition I feared so much?”
Seneca
Today, this topic is back in the air. Hundreds of people preach on social networks the benefits of cold showers or ice baths, walking barefoot, getting up early, intense physical exercise or difficult yoga postures, among many other creative approaches.
However, we climbers have always been familiar with this issue. Climbing a rock wall, literally leaving your skin on it and also dealing with our deepest fear: the fear of falling. And it’s not just that the activity itself is a constant exercise of dealing with discomfort. It is also part of the climbing culture to grow in discomfort, to always go one step further. Going from top rope to lead, seeking always to climb routes with increasing grade of difficulty, or learning to deal with falls and fails are some of the issues that demonstrate this tendency to grow through discomfort.
Hardship as adventure
Tommy Caldwell learned the same stoic concept from his father: elective hardship. It’s the same concept, exposing yourself to situations that test you and make you grow. Always observing safety measures, it’s not about risking your physique in any way.
And the key is another of the things Tommy learned from his father: rethink adversity as an adventure. Allowing yourself to be exposed to discomfort, to challenge, as an opportunity to test yourself, to grow, to learn and to know yourself better.
A very interesting kind of education, perhaps not so obvious to many people who tend to put safety, security and comfort as their highest purpose.
“Hardship is inevitable. So put your goggles on and face into the wind.”
Tommy Caldwell
I think it was very useful for Tommy to have been educated in this way. It probably helped when he was kidnapped by jihadists while climbing in Kyrgyzstan. And it continued to be useful when he lost his index finger chopping wood and his climbing career was shaken. Despite that, he managed to free one of El Capitan’s hardest routes, The Dawn Wall, after seven years of effort. Below, you can find the Ted Talk where Caldwell talks about all of this:
Benefits of practicing discomfort
You’ve already read throughout this article about some of the benefits of practicing discomfort, but let’s clarify a little more.
We’ve said that dealing with discomfort and the negative emotions it causes makes us grow. It also makes us freer. Free because we expand our possibilities. Free because we don’t submit ourselves to comforts. If I want to go to the mountain, I go, even if it is more uncomfortable than staying at home. If I want to climb new or more difficult routes, I do it and I enjoy it. If I want something that requires effort, I don’t shrink from it. If the situation is not as I would like it to be, I adapt and manage it efficiently.
“He who pursues pleasure postpones to it all things, and the first thing he neglects is his freedom. He does not buy pleasures for himself, but sells himself to pleasures.“
Seneca
Living the “adventure of discomfort” will make you reflect and know yourself better. In addition to questioning why we do things, whether it is for comfort or because we really want to, difficulties and discomfort give us the opportunity to test ourselves, to see what we are capable of doing. If I never try climbing, I will never know if I am capable of it or if my ability to manage my fear is developed, for example.
Finally, it is through discomfort that we will be able to better appreciate comfort. That is, we will be more appreciative. When is the food tastier? When we are hungry – or after climbing. When do we sleep best? When we are tired. Being stuffed with comfort makes it more difficult for us to enjoy everyday pleasures, as we tend to get used to them and stop appreciating them.
As you can see, when faced with discomfort, the benefits outweigh the risks. However, it requires a lot of willpower and mental strength, which at the same time can be developed by practicing discomfort.
Don’t avoid difficulties or discomfort, go towards them and grow.

*Find out more about Stoicism and Climbing in the book