In which Our Hero laughs at discomfort.
I lifted weights today. A friend of mine lifts daily; I’m visiting him for his birthday. I haven’t lifted in years.
We had a blast.
At one point he noticed something: when I reached the edge of my comfort zone, I’d laugh, and therefore fail.
Calling this out helped. In lifting, laughing doesn’t help. Laughing releases tension. Lifting requires tension.
It reminded me of something a clown friend once told me: when a moment goes wrong on stage, I tend to deflate immediately, thereby giving up.
Same pattern. Different room.
The alternative is simple, though not easy:
Stick with it.
Keep going.
Stay strong.
Put the performance ahead of your comfort.
Unless you’re doing the wrong thing.
In which case—switch.
How do you know whether the thing you’re doing is working?
Look.
Listen.
Pay attention.
The scientific method is an apt strategy here. Form a hypothesis; try an experiment; acknowledge how it worked; use that data to double down or switch.
Two different people today asked why I’m attending clown school, and whether I knew it would be an emotional bootcamp.
Yes, I knew it would be challenging.
I’m not there because it’s easy.
I’m there precisely because it isn’t.
Let’s play.
Julian Wise 