It is easier to live an uncomfortable life than do the work to make life better. We will choose to remain in a situation that is bad, but passable, rather than working hard enough to elevate our life to a new level.
When something is bad, but not catastrophic, we have a strange tendency to accept the difficult position rather than fight our way to a more satisfactory one.
I remember reading an author quite a while ago (I can’t remember who it was) that said we make lasting changes in our life most often when we endure some great emotional event.
This hypothesis suggested by my mystery author reminds me of a phenomenon called the “region-beta paradox.” This is the idea that people often recover faster from more difficult or traumatic experiences than from less difficult ones.
The idea is that the human body produces a stronger defense against more traumatic events, thus the person can handle major stressful events in a much more capable manner than less stressful events.
This major reaction is the agent of change and, I think, can be applied to most parts of life.
You will stick with a job that is just OK if you’re able to make ends meet. You will stick with that mediocre job when you could go out and hunt down a better job because finding a new job involves risk, stress, and hard effort.
However, if the job is horrible or doesn’t pay enough to cover your bills, you feel forced to break out and find a better situation.
The more dramatic situation forces you to trigger the systems that respond with action. Taking action results in a better situation, despite the short-term discomfort. Taking action is virtually always the correct answer to the question.
There is a reason nagging injuries nag, but the broken leg heals in eight weeks. The major trauma is effectively corrected because we reacted with major action (i.e. get to the hospital and let the professionals fix you up.)
When life is difficult and you aren’t making the change you should, it is good when things go from bad to worse. It is from the “worse” that you will summon the appropriate response to change your life, business, and conduct for the better.
It is better to suffer short-term pain than sleep-walk through comfortable but unsatisfying mediocrity for your entire life. Embrace the pain and work harder than you ever have. Learn and grow from the bad situation. It only gets better if you make it better. So work on making it better.