Passion, Experience & Growth

Discomfort Is Required

December 28, 2020

“As free as the wind, and hopefully learning” — Roxy Music - More Than This

Discomfort is the path to comfort. …and to peace – Extreme Ownership | Jocko Willink | TEDxUniversityofNevada | YouTube. Ironic, eh?

I’ve pursued problems and discomfort throughout my life “the easy way”… I never had to avoid them, because the problems were always easy… or immediate… like when I crashed my brand new RX-7 against a guardrail just one week after taking delivery in January 1987. For years, I blamed the cold tires… but really, I was just an idiot who learned the hard way.

In 2006, I pivoted. I began preparing to ride a motorcycle. My dad died in April. By July I was licensed and had a new Suzuki SV650. By October, I had the bike of my dreams—a best-in-class, zero to sixty in 2.999 seconds, 186 MPH, super-bike—a 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000. January 10, 2007 I crashed the gixxer, and learned the hard way …again.

I kept going. And in April 2009, I was out on the racetrack on the gixxer, going over 120 MPH.

I didn’t realize my dad was with me at the time… But as I drove home from the Virginia International Raceway, I thought “Wow… he would have loved that… I wish he were here.”

I was immediately overcome by the feeling—more than words—simply: “I was”….

Tears streamed down my cheeks. I was lucky the highway was straight! My vision blurred with tears. Overwhelmed, joyful and embarrassed, I wiped my eyes; simultaneously, wanting to just sit in that moment, and knowing that I really needed to see the way forward!

I wiped my eyes, and the feeling dissipated slowly. But not the memory. Over eleven years since that day in April, the memory is still vivid.

Discomfort shapes us, but facing it head-on is what turns struggle into strength—and memories into peace.