Limited exposure to stuff that feels uncomfortable can also make you happier — but there’s no reason to take it to extremes. Check out a few methods for practicing voluntary discomfort that are quick, easy and (almost) painless.
“The body should be treated rigorously, so that it may not be disobedient to the mind.” – Seneca
Contrary to popular belief, Stoicism isn’t about trying to be emotionless or exempt from pain and discomfort. We practice being Stoic to experience more positive emotions like joy and gratitude, and to get rid of negative emotions like fear, anger and despair.
Discomfort isn’t something that Stoics enjoy — but we also realize that it’s an inevitable part of life. You can’t wish away all of the things that hurt or frighten you, but you can immunize yourself against them a bit. And that’s what the Stoic practice of voluntary discomfort is all about.
“Your comfort zone has two dimensions, one physical and the other emotional, and your goal in toughness training should be to expand both of them.” – William B. Irvine, The Stoic Challenge
Surprisingly, if we regularly subject ourselves to just a little bit of the stuff that makes us uncomfortable, it often lets us add more pleasure to our lives. When we acclimate our minds and bodies to discomfort, we become less intimidated by challenges and new experiences. We’re better able to ignore stuff that used to scare or distress us, and focus on being happy.
One word of warning, though: voluntary discomfort doesn’t mean subjecting yourself to dangerously intense pain and fear. Stuff like putting your hand over a flame isn’t Stoicism, it’s self-harm. We want to build up confidence, not scar tissue.
“Neither a bull nor a noble-spirited man comes to be what he is all at once; he must undertake hard winter training, and prepare himself.” – Epictetus
With that in mind, here are five simple, (relatively) painless exercises that you can do to practice voluntary discomfort. They’re safe and low-impact enough to do each day, if you want (in fact, they’re a small part of the exercise routine I do every weekday). And they don’t take much time — so adding them to your regular workout schedule is easy to do.
1. Deep Stretches
When I started researching voluntary discomfort exercises, I was surprised to see that yoga was often mentioned as one of the best ways to acclimate yourself to pain.
Today, though, I completely understand why. Really deep, extended stretching doesn’t just make you more limber — it can also be a bit painful, and it takes a lot of willpower to hold certain stretches for thirty seconds or more.
There are dozens of different stretching techniques you can easily find online, so I’ll let you figure out which are best for you. Just remember: you can also permanently hurt yourself if you take stretching too far, so ease into it over time.
2. Headstands
Being inverted is something our bodies are naturally uncomfortable with, and it can feel a bit frightening until you get used to it. If you don’t have a roller coaster in your back yard, headstands are the next best way to acclimate yourself to being upside-down.
Don’t worry: I can’t do real headstands without help, either. But a yoga headstand chair makes the task surprisingly easy, even if you’ve never tried it before. (I’m pretty clumsy, but it only took me a few tries to get it down.)
I do sixty-second headstands every day, but you can do shorter (or much longer) spans if you want to.
3. Dead Hangs
Don’t let the word “dead” scare you — a dead hang is just holding onto a bar and hanging from it for a few seconds. No flexing or straining; just going limp and hanging there.
It sounds like this would be easy to do, but it gets painful surprisingly fast. I’m in fairly good shape, but I start getting really uncomfortable after about sixty seconds of dead hanging.
Dead hanging is also great for developing your grip strength, and some doctors say it works wonders for shoulder and back pain if you do it every day.
4. Holding Your Breath
Our bodies start to freak out pretty quickly when we hold our breath (that feeling is actually from carbon dioxide buildup, not lack of oxygen).
Breath holding is one of the best ways to induce discomfort and panic without much danger of injury, because your body eventually forces you to exhale and take a breath when it reaches its physical limit. (Don’t try holding your breath that long, though.)
You can perform breath holding exercises while doing other things (like reading or stretching), and it’s great for developing lung capacity. I hold my breath for ninety seconds every day, which is the point when my body starts to feel involuntary panic.
5. Wearing Your Weights
Wearing a weighted vest while you go about your daily business is a great way to induce a bit of discomfort while also gradually building strength and stamina.
I know people who wear weighted vests while jogging or doing pushups, but you don’t need to get quite so intense (for what it’s worth, I tried that a few times and called it quits). Just wearing a few extra pounds while going about your regular routine is an effective way to practice voluntary discomfort.
My rule of thumb is this: if my shoulders hurt the next day, that means I’m wearing too much weight for too long. When something causes an injury that you need time to heal from, then it’s no longer “voluntary discomfort.”