A recent event made me think what dealing with discomfort can teach. I was supposed to accompany a friend to a networking event. Last minute business travel left B out of town and the prospect of me attending this event alone. Generally that would not be a problem but we have very different lines of work and I did not think I could gain or contribute much on my own there - this was B's crowd and I was only a secondary beneficiary. I did not want to beg out entirely because this could turn out to be useful to one or both of us. Yet, I wished very much to avoid going.
So there was some back and forth on the topic - I needed a fair bit on convincing and finally I decided to go. The sense of discomfort permeated the whole experience - I was not dressed warm enough for the weather; had to stop at a department store to grab a scarf. My shoes felt wrong as did my entire outfit though objectively I was dressed very average business casual like everyone else there. The conversations felt stilted and seemed to take effort to get in a good flow. After an hour, I felt more at home even if around people I shared very little in common professionally. Some intersections and points of interest were discovered all the same. People have diverse backgrounds and back stories that can be a learning experience in itself. The way back home was much less fraught.
I thought about the curve of discomfort, rising to its peak at the time I decided I needed to buy a scarf to survive the blustery weather. The lowest point occurred when I arrived home and started to heat up some dinner - the adventure was over and nothing had gone awry for anyone. I wondered how it would be to play out the entire curve of this incident the next time I find myself in a discomfort zone. Knowing the end of the story may prove a great way to embark on things I would otherwise resist much harder.
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