Comfort or Curiosity? To Lead a Creative Life, There is Really Only One Choice

We love being comfortable. We feel safe when we are comfortable. We feel cozy in its knowability, its constant barrier against the things we consider uncomfortable.

Those things range from mildly annoying to extremely terrifying. So we avoid them by surrounding ourselves with safety, never wandering about in those places that can be confusing, challenging, or scary.

We choose to be comfortable.

And there is nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. I would not propose to force you out of that if it is where you need to be.

But ask yourself this.

When has anyone truly comfortable ever done anything mildly extraordinary? The very nature of being comfortable is not conducive to doing anything other than what is required to be comfortable.

Don’t rock the boat, as they say.

Now the antidote to comfortable stasis is a single trait that most all of us have, but we suppress it far too often.

Curiosity.

Curiosity can destroy comfort. It is so powerful in some of us that it can lead to amazing, spectacular, and nearly indefinable successes.

And also to depths of failure that it would seem there would be no escape.

I have never sought comfort or ‘status quo’. I have been curious about so many things that occasionally I have been accused of not ‘focusing’ on one or another of my interests long enough to be comfortable.

I guess it is not in my nature, so I continue looking for things to stimulate my curiosity. I find that so much more exciting than being in a safe cocoon of sameness.

Being comfortable is to welcome sameness since introducing anything different could, you know, rock the boat.

What I know for sure is that in order to achieve anything that you want to achieve, you must first be curious about something, and then be willing to dare yourself into the action required to make that happen.

One of my students was very comfortable in his position in a cubicle-type job. Mortgage, car payments, insurance, weekly paycheck… all the great comforts of being in a job that required no curiosity.

And one day he formulated a plan to get out. Once he realized that he had the power to make a change, the feeling of desperation of wanting to break from his comfort and do something for himself that may be risky is like getting an overdose of adrenaline.

He planned out how much he needed to save to ease the transition. And early last year he gave his two weeks and became a professional photographer.

Months of low-paying gigs, pizza shoots, events, ad shots for small mom and pops… and then comes an offer from a bigger client, and another… and another.

He isn’t out of the woods yet, but he can see the tree line. He knows what he needs to do and is doing it. Every day. He is coming very close to offsetting his previous salary with his camera, and all of it comes from his approach to the scary stuff that makes most of us uncomfortable.

Portfolio building.
Cold calls.
Client meetings.
Selling himself.
Doing the work that is needed to get the work that he wants.

He left his comfort zone a year ago and has now become comfortable with the work that it takes to keep his business growing. A good sort of comfort, one that comes from conquering fears and trepidations and moving forward on his own steam.

But by no means a static place. He is forging new plans, new strategies and systems that will propel him through this crazy new year.

2023 will not be a comfortable year. I know this. You most likely know this as well.

But it can be a year of tremendous possibilities, challenges met, personal wins, and a life that may be less comfortable but infinitely more satisfying.

Have you thought about a creative life?