“Nobody achieves anything great because they’re happy and lazy” – Alex Honnold

I don’t necessarily think this is a healthy way of viewing life. I think the intentions are fantastic, wanting to approach life with passion and succeed beyond your greatest dreams and achieve goals that appear lofty. It’s nice to contribute to the world in a progressive manner, and being an example for how far humans can push themselves via extreme athletic achievement is imperative. But I think you can still be cozy and do these things. In fact, I think an assumption that you must be extremely strong and disciplined at all hours of the day can be dangerous because it harms your ability to do so in the moments that matter due to burnout. And burnout is very real, you cannot deny that. You need to be strong and disciplined, and that comes from having internal peace in moments of conflict/existentialism/fear-facing. Living on the assumption that you’re intrinsically weak unless you push yourself insanely is not a means of providing value to the world, it’s an ego battle that was developed in your youth. Alex’s moms favorite quote was something along the lines of “Your best isn’t good enough”… Imagine your mother saying this to you, you’ll constantly feel on the edge. As humans we need comfort in doses to assist us from breaking or becoming the destructive entities we fear. I guarantee some of the worlds worst people exist in that limbo state of committing ridiculous acts to confirm their value from an external level, utilizing irrational metrics. Theres a balance that must be achieved, and you certainly have to do tough shit for the benefit of yourself and others, but feeling this terror in the face of comfort—especially in small doses—is a cowardly reaction to a fear of complacency/abandonment/etc that will drive you and your loved ones fucking nuts. Doing things from a self love standpoint will always lead to better results, more consistent effort, and a more fulfilling existence than approaching life with fear as the main motivator.

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My point was not that it is productive to be lazy or complacent or comfortable. My point is that its better to achieve internal peace, and address the trauma you faced in your past that makes you dismissive of the peace you’re deserving of attaining. People believe that they have to exist in a limbo state of continuously pushing through discomfort, which is acceptable in small doses but highly regressive in larger ones where you don’t allow yourself to recover. Ive found that this originates from a lack of self love, where they’re afraid that they’ll become inadequate if they take breaks or allow moments of relaxation between effort. Beyond this, if one perceives the effort they’re responsible of enduring as a battle through struggle, and your whole life is posed on this idea of persistence through endless struggle, then you will never actually enjoy your life. You haven’t attempted to comprehend the reasons for why you believe you’re intrinsically inadequate, and you’re living a fear-motivated world. Consistent effort is the goal, but that is only achieved through self love and enjoyment of the process itself.