“Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions.”
– Mark Twain
Am I gonna throw up?
I’d just worked out harder than I’d worked out in a long time. And it felt like I might lose my lunch. I ran to the window for some fresh air. Took a few deep breaths.
The feeling passed after five minutes.
But the excuses didn’t.
Maybe I’m working out too hard. Maybe I should slow down. Maybe I should take a few days off.
Discomfort is deceiving.
It wants you to think that what you’re doing is wrong… by making it feel wrong.
But feelings can’t be trusted until they’re well-calibrated.
I only felt like throwing up because I was out of shape… not because what I was doing was wrong or unhealthy. It was pushing me past my normal boundaries.
We might feel that something is wrong only because it’s uncomfortable — like saying “no”, spending a lot of money on something we care about, or having alone time. But that’s only because we haven’t done it enough to calibrate our gut to the proper way of thinking about it.
Something is never wrong simply because it’s new.
And something certainly isn’t wrong only because it feels wrong.
So ask yourself, “Is this wrong? Or is it just uncomfortable?”
If it’s just uncomfortable, open the window for a breath of fresh air.
Then get back to it.