The three women experts cited (of ~40+) are “shy”, working in surprisingly “unsexy fields”, or in “pink running shoes”. The book spools out a conceit of fit, hardy, and uncomfortable vs sedentary, soft, and unfit. Many, many of the norms and practices critiqued are female-coded: yoga, wellness, Paris Hilton’s dog (yes, really), meditation (there’s a serious bete noir with meditation as it stands in for human weakness multiple times. Funny, given that much of what the book recommends is, essentially, meditation), the list goes on. Welcome,” said the khenpo, his voice a heavily accented butter. I bowed and sat. “You want to talk about death?” Rather than letting them derail your grand plan to live out your values and become the person you want to be, you have to master them. If few or none of them apply, there is still good news: there are lots of jobs that DO offer these things. Especially thanks to the power of self employment. Reply

Camping in Arctic Alaska may not be your idea of a vacation. But as you’ll discover in the next blinks, there are many other, simpler ways to transform your life through discomfort. For example, consider the importance of handwashing. Even before COVID-19, most of us were regular, if not obsessive, hand washers. Hygiene equals health – or at least, that’s what we think.This reminds me a lot of an episode of the podcast The Hidden Brain where they examine the paradox of plenty and the path to enough. To combat poor eating habits, the book recommends combating mindless eating with food diaries. We routinely underestimate what we eat, and Easter talks with an expert who says you can eat anything that you want, as long as you limit your total calories and focus on foods that actually fill you up. While junk foods are calorie dense, they are ultimately unsatisfying and leave you still hungry. Potatoes are one of the best foods you can eat to fill you up, as long as they aren't processed or fried. A lot of foods can be considered "comfort foods"- treats meant to calm down your anxieties or depression. The effects of these foods don't last long

This impending voyage into the Arctic is one thing. But I’m also no fan of flying. Particularly when it’s in planes like these: single-engine, two-and four-seater bush craft. Picture empty Campbell’s soup cans with wings. What's the ultimate goal in this life? Is it to transcend the problems of everyday reality and retire in comfort and serenity near the beach? Or is it to test our limits regularly and embrace the discomfort and challenges of being a human being? This is a question many of us take for granted. We all think that retiring rich, fat, and happy should be the ultimate goal, but how many of us would be lonely and bored should we ever reach that plateau? This creep phenomenon applies directly to how we now relate to comfort, said Levari. Call it comfort creep. When a new comfort is introduced, we adapt to it and our old comforts become unacceptable. Today’s comfort is tomorrow’s discomfort. This leads to a new level of what’s considered comfortable.” Commercial flying is incredibly safe. The statistics say you’re infinitely more likely to die in a crash on the way to the airport than you are in the plane. But this rule does not apply to bush plane flights in Alaska. So far the book seems to be a whole lotta words to justify taking thousands of dollars from the family budget and leaving the kids with your wife (and her parents and church?) so you can go moose hunting in the Alaskan wild. At least Chris McCandless didn't have people depending on his income.You must think of mitakpa three times each day. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. You must be curious about your death. You must understand that you don’t know how you will die or where you will die. Just that you will die. And that death can come at any time,” he said. “The ancient monks would remind themselves of this every time they left their meditation cave. I, too, remind myself of this every time I walk out my front door.”

In a series of recent interviews, Ukrainian people living in the war zones of their occupied country were asked “is it safe to live where you live?” and a strangely high percentage still said “Yes” – not all that different from the responses of US residents when asked the same question about their own cities.Even placing a single plant into a hospital room will measurably improve the recovery of almost all patients from almost all ailments. So can you imagine the power of the medicine you are inhaling if you step into a real, living forest? And what if you spent several hours there, or even several days?

The best I can say was that some of the information was fine if a bit magazine-lite. But this book was a personal discomfort and endurance challenge (lol) courtesy of the, cue the jingle folks, incessant low-key misogyny! A handful of examples: The Nature Fix: Why nature makes us happier, healthier, and more creative by Florence Williams Reply the stuff that is hard and uncomfortable is very likely to be the stuff that improves your life the most.”Discover the evolutionary mind and body benefits of living at the edges of your comfort zone and reconnecting with the wild—from the New York Times bestselling author of Scarcity Brain.