I’ve been working on discomfort testing. I think it’s important for anyone who grew up super chronically online (or everyone really). Basically I try to put myself in situations where I’m uncomfortable with increasing severity. If you think you’re “lazy” because you just can’t force yourself to walk every day or you just can’t force yourself to clean your room or something like that you might wanna try discomfort testing.
I have big and small tests. A small test can look like: setting a 10 minute timer and cleaning as much as I can within that time. Walking around the block and seeing how many times I can tell myself “just one more block.” Forcing myself to read and pay attention to the most boring book I can find in my local library (they don’t usually end up being as boring as they look).
Big tests are like: forcing myself to go to a party where I know my ride is dependent on someone so I can’t leave until they do. Spending an entire day on a boat with no escape. Giving a speech in front of a room full of people.
Sometimes it’s not things I have to do but am too lazy to do but rather it’s about just testing my utmost boundaries to remind myself that I am strong and I can do things that feel hard or impossible. Last week I dunked my whole body in ice water. It was fucking scary. I lived.
Life is a series of forcing yourself to do difficult things. Start young and small and it’ll be easier to do the bigger things when you’re older.