Our culture has developed a new kind of allergy, an allergy to a particular experience—namely, emotional discomfort.
It seems that we’re no longer willing or able to tolerate feeling uncomfortable. And furthermore, we’ve come to believe we shouldn’t have to tolerate any kind of emotional discomfort. Any situation that could possibly trigger uncomfortable feelings is now viewed as overwhelming, unnatural, and in need of correction.
So then, what’s discomfort—this experience that we consider so daunting and unacceptable these days?
To be uncomfortable is defined as being uneasy, awkward, and literally without comfort. When we’re pushed out of our comfort zone, feel anything other than happy, or have to exert effort in order to feel okay, we think it means something is wrong. The assumption, in fact, is that our discomfort means we’re being wronged and usually that someone else is to blame. We’ve come to believe that any situation that causes us to feel difficulty, difference, or unpleasantness must be fixed immediately so that we never have to experience such feelings again.
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