“Life is Suffering. Suffering is real and almost universal. Suffering has many causes: loss, sickness, pain, failure, the impermanence of pleasure” - Four Noble Truths, Buddhist quote
This Buddhist quote illuminates a universal truth that life is difficult, tough and transient. The quote reminds us to be grateful when we are not suffering. No doubt, a considerable amount of progress and modernisation occurred before this text. Is it possible that the convenience of modern western society makes us too comfortable?
From apps that deliver food straight to your door, to ride-sharing, to matching online - these services have saved us time and energy. In less than 30 seconds of concentration, press a few buttons, and viola your desired meal is in transit. Incompatible with your weekly Tinderella? Swipe again. Want to get home when it is dark and rainy? Riders are waiting at your fingertip. Is your butt cold in the morning? Not to worry, there’s a button in your car for fixing your frozen derriere.
Is it possible, that in this world of efficiency, we’ve become too comfortable? When was the last time you’ve cut wood to heat your shower or toiled in the fields all day? 40 hours a week in a climate-controlled office with cushy desk chairs is incomparable to sowing seeds in rice fields under the scorching sun.
Imagine a world some 200 years ago when you need to travel to the next town or even the next country. How would someone know where you are? Letters, word of mouth and hand-drawn maps were essential. In 2022, apps can show in real-time if your flight has been delayed. Location trackers such as ‘Find my friend’ show your location to family and friends. Google maps can find the fastest route saving hours of previous planning and decision making. Instead of taking months to cross dangerous oceans on a ship, an airline can safely transport passengers to any location with a runway.
The pain of approaching and being rejected by potential partners is also almost completely removed in the online age. Apps like tinder encourage flicking through matches in the same way fast food is served. Prior to the digital revolution, meeting a potential partner involved attending events, dances, group activities, extending social networks, matching-making and being introduced by mutual friends. Ultimately dating apps have been a double-edged sword, whereby quantity is exchanged for quality, the ease of matching swapped from the difficulty of pursuit.
In the land of Mr Bilzerian, one would assume that life is made of babes, boats and beer pong parties. Known as a 200 million dollar poker player, he lives an enviable lifestyle. Checking out Mr Bilzerian’s Snapchat, it would appear that the life of the super-rich is absent of responsibility. He regularly travels to exotic locations on luxury yachts with a harem of beautiful models. For 99.99 per cent of us on earth, this lifestyle is a fantasy. Social media has presented an illusion. What is less obvious and is rarely discussed is the number of hours and effort put into mastering the art of poker, which multiplied his millions in the first place.
While modern-day technologies are amazing and necessary, they have also removed discomfort. Why do we need to embrace discomfort? To get in shape, you need to raise your heart rate level. Any athlete recognises that to achieve peak performance, physical and perhaps mental boundaries need to be overcome. To compete at a high level, physical pain has to be embraced rather than avoided.
Take Arnold Schwarzenegger for example. He is esteemed as one of the top-tier bodybuilders of all time. To achieve his physique, repetitions and muscle hypertrophy were essential. When asked about his strong work ethic and why he was grinning during sets, he replied to the effect of: ‘With every repetition, I am getting closer to my goal’. He also had to push barriers in other areas of his life. Coming to America with a strong Austrian accent, many Hollywood producers overlooked him simply because they felt the public would not understand him. What did Arnold do? He turned a failing into a strength and applied for roles casting him as a strong transgressor. In summary, his persistence and work ethic pushed through cultural and physical boundaries.
‘Diamonds were made under pressure’
There is a certain sense of fulfilment in tackling a difficult job. While somewhat painful at the time, later you recognise the importance of that task in pushing personal boundaries. I can recall in my first graduate role I was working for a small wind farm development company. Although I came on board as a mapping analyst, a significant part of the role was talking with local farmers. Driving down to South-West Victoria, I had a list of all the locals that we needed to visit. My boss instructed me to cold-call all 15 landowners (while we both travelled in the same car). The first three landowners hung up on me after 10 seconds. I needed to change my approach. Instead of introducing myself, I got straight to the point: “Hey Mr Farmer Joe, we are going to be in Camperdown tomorrow, let’s meet for a chat”. Being an introvert, this was rather excruciating, but it was a worthwhile learning experience.
“Nobody said it would be easy” - Coldplay
While many discuss the negative effects of too much cortisol, there is also a positive element to stress. Stress primes us for performance, whether that is on the sports field, in the office or exam. Some amount of stress is critical to encountering difficult complex problems that require high-level cognition. I can recall several exams where I performed well because I was primed and hyped. On the other hand, there are times on holidays or between jobs that I’ve felt too sedated. There is a certain fog of lethargy or sedation that cannot be lifted.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. Hard times create strong men.” - G. Michael Hopf
Are we entering into an era of too much comfort that is creating weakness in society? In Stefan Aarnio’s book ‘Hard Times Create Strong Men’, he presents the notion that society fluctuates between 80-year cycles of economic conditions. The generation of the 1940s had hard times forced upon them by World War II. Men rose to the occasion and created good times of the 1960s to 1980s. The good times then created trouble for the era of the 1980s-2000s. And then the cycle repeats itself, with hard times coming in 2020. Look no further than the Ukraine invasion by Russia and the Covid-19 pandemic for evidence of these hard times.
Ultimately embracing discomfort, taking on responsibility and pushing through personal boundaries are needed in today’s society, no matter how technologically advanced we become.
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