The Discomfort We Willingly Choose Defines our Life Purpose

Some people have the idea that, if you're following your heart, or that you're living with purpose - life will always be fun and easy, or that you will always feel good.

This is not something I've personally experienced to be true. I believe all things come with a drawback or downside. It's like yin and yang - all positive things also come with a negative side.

Yes, we all want to feel good. We all want to be happy and at peace within ourselves and with others. In fact, I believe that's a big reason why we're here - to learn how to grow and transcend the personal challenges that we all inevitably face in life.

Many of us do personal development work because we want to transcend suffering in some way. We are motivated to work on ourselves because some part of us believes that there is a better way of being - or a better way of showing up in our lives.

But growth isn't always fun and easy. In fact, more often than not, it's downright uncomfortable.

Therefore, a helpful question we can ask ourselves is (dare I say, even a pathway to finding our deepest joy and purpose in life): "What discomfort will we say yes to - what discomfort are we willing to embrace?"

We all want things, whether consciously or not. We may want to be healthy and feel good in our bodies. We may want good relationships with our families and friends. We may want to have a job or career that we find deeply fulfilling.

But how many people are truly willing to embrace the negative aspects of these experiences in order to achieve and reap the benefits of the positive aspects? From my experience, I've found very few people consciously choose to "embrace the suck."

For example, everybody wants to be physically fit and not get sick, but how many will actually exercise regularly, eat well - and not sit in front of the computer or television all day?

Everybody wants good relationships with their families and friends, but how many will do the inner work to become aware of the emotional patterns that may be making them act in certain ways that are damaging to their relationships?

Everybody wants to have a fulfilling career, but how many are courageous enough to step out onto their own and either find or create opportunities where they are able to have one?

Simply put, our success in life is defined by the struggles we willingly choose. It is by exercising our free will and consciously choosing to embrace discomfort that we are able to realize the positive things that we are looking for in the first place.

It is the struggles we are willing to go through that ultimately empowers us to get what we want for the sake of what we love.

It's important to note that sometimes people will say they really want something, but years can go by, and they haven't made much progress towards their goals or vision. When this happens, we must realize that what people say (or think) they want isn't necessarily what they actually want. They may just be infatuated with the idea of what they want - and not the actual thing.

Because ultimately, when we truly want something, we will be willing to take the bad with the good. Nothing is purely good - or purely bad. And as such, we won't truly make progress until we are able to decide that the cost of the struggle is worth the benefits we feel we will receive.

Therefore, the discomfort we willingly choose ultimately reflects our life purpose.

We all have a purpose. We all have something we want. Something that invites joy and inner peace within ourselves. While not all of us may know what that something is - we all have something that we wish to create or manifest in our lives that we are willing to say yes to the pain and yes to the struggles that come with it.

So what is that for you? What are you willing to struggle for in life? Is there something that you are so committed to that nothing could stop you from pursuing it?

This is such an important question that our lives, or rather the quality of lives, literally depends on it. It's what ignites passion within us and is the spark of life itself.