Running Out of Comfort

Comfort.  One of the desires that drives us to do so many things.  We search for comfort in our homes, our friends, our food (oh yes!), our spiritual life, our work...you get the idea.  But, is it a good thing all the time?  I'm not convinced.
I find myself with less passion and more t-shirts the more I search for comfort.  Don't get me wrong, I fully believe we are blessed with a wonderful family, a vacation of a home, delicious recipes, and fantastic jobs.  But, I've been thinking the past month about how to make myself UNcomfortable.  Counterintuitive?  surely.  Crazy? maybe.  More productive? in many ways.

Let me give you an example.
My favorite way to workout is by taking group exercise classes.  I'm sure it has to do with taking dance for 14 years.  I just love the music, the choreography, the motivation of a group & a leader...it doesn't matter if it's kickboxing, yoga, weightlifting, zumba.  You name it, I'll take it.
So, when we moved to Maryland and the base group exercise schedule didn't fit with my school schedule, I found myself looking for a convenient alternative.
It's nice outside again, there's something you can do for free if you lace up the tennis shoes and get out the door...but I hate running.  People ask all the time if I run with Josh.  Are you crazy?  Do YOU want to try to pace yourself with someone who raced collegiately?  Do you want to try biking beside him, because he's still going to lap you? He's the kind of guy who will say, "Seek pain. Embrace it."  Sickening, right?
But I knew it was time to be uncomfortable.  What I HAVE grown to love is exercising in the morning.  If you can force, and I mean, FORCE yourself out of bed, it's completely worth it to have that energy the rest of the day and to actually be able to crash at the end of the day.  I'm proud to say that all of my run/walk/jogs have been in the morning before school or on the weekends before 8:00.  That in itself was uncomfortable at first.  And I'm also glad to say that I've gone from never being a runner, jogger, whatever you want to call it to being able to go for 30 minutes without walking!  Whoo hoo!  It took a month to get there, but I got there.  So, if you're reading this and feeling like I did, know there's some encouragement that you can do this too if you want to.  The internet is full of 5k plans, and this is the uncomfortable plan I used. (Now if only I could get to where Josh wasn't doubling my speed, haha!)