How Long Have You Been Up There?

"Once you're up there, all the sudden you go. Once you are completely alone in the middle of freaking nowhere," he says. "You start to strip away a lot of layers, and like, what do you end up missing? Right?" He adds: "I missed my wife, and i missed my dog."

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Are we too comfortable? Do we complain too much?

Modern life is filled with modern conveniences that are engineered to make life easier and more enjoyable. But what if these contemporary comforts masquerading as a panacea of pleasure are really a double-edged sword? What have we lost in the process of gaining comfort?

Is there value in choosing to be uncomfortable and adding discomfort to our lives? What are the benefits?

These are questions Michael Easter addresses in his book The Comfort Crisis, and in this interview. As he’ll explain in the podcast, he’s traveled all around the world and interviewed an interesting cast to learn why you should inject challenge into your life and not get too comfortable.

In case you’re not familiar with Michael Easter, he’s not only an author, but a contributing editor at Men's Health magazine, columnist for Outside magazine, and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. His work can be found in Men's Journal, New York, Vice, Scientific American, and Esquire.

So if you’re interested in hearing why Michael Easter chose to spend a month in the Arctic, what he gained from the experience, and how you can include more discomfort in your own life, you don’t want to miss this podcast!

Timestamps:

0:00 - Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $12,000 in splendid swag: https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/

6:20 - What is the "comfort crisis"?

7:31 - How does too much comfort harm us individually and collectively?

10:06 - Should we make things harder for ourselves?

11:15 - How do you introduce "productive discomfort" into your life?

15:22 - Boredom increases creativity.

18:27 - The effects of solitude.

19:57 - Did you learn something about yourself by being alone in the arctic?

22:46 - How much comfort is appropriate?

28:15 - Is it wrong to "savor" life?

33:57 - How long have the benefits stuck with you?