Happy Monday! Welcome back to another exciting week of personal finance awesomeness from Jim.
Today’s post will be slightly different in that it’s not entirely about money. We have three articles all talking about a simple but powerful idea – finding comfort in discomfort.
No one enjoys being uncomfortable but just as you can’t enjoy sweetness without bitterness, you truly can’t enjoy being comfortable when you haven’t been uncomfortable. Today’s posts all discuss this idea… and no ice-cold showers required!
Discomfort Zone: How to Master the Universe [Zen Habits] – “Of all the skills I’ve learned in the past 7 years of changing my life, one skill stands out: Learning to be comfortable with discomfort. If you learn this skill, you can master pretty much anything.”
Don’t Let Life Get Too Easy in Early Retirement [Our Next Life] – “Removing too many pain points from our lives risks actually doing ourselves harm in a different way: a life with no pain points makes us soft. And is that what you want for your early retirement, to go through it as a person who’s growing less and less resilient, who is so used to everything being easy that you become intolerant of dealing with challenges? Because that’s what we’re talking about.”
Are We Happier When We’re Uncomfortable? [The Frug] – “Imagine for a second that all of your needs have been met. You don’t need to lift a finger to do anything. You’re in the perfect location, with the perfect partner, all of your physical, emotional, and financial needs have been completely taken care of. Servants bring you fresh food and drinks. No need to even get out of your beach chair.
I don’t know about you but I’ve been on vacations like this and it truly gets old after the first week or two. Even when I have plenty of good books to read, a beautiful beach, and an ocean to swim in, this thought of sitting still bores the hell out of me.”
And for the candy after the medicine… we have a treasure hunt!
The Fisherman’s Secret: A modern day treasure hunt [SF Chronicle] – “One late night five years ago, fisherman Giuseppe Pennisi was lying in bed with his laptop propped up on his barrel chest, reviewing video footage captured from his 76-foot boat, the Pioneer. The boat is a bottom trawler. It scoops up fish with a net that bounces across the seafloor at depths of more than 4,000 feet. A tinkerer, Pennisi likes to keep GoPro cameras attached to the net, allowing him to study the footage and improve his technique. That night, around 2 a.m., he noticed his camera slide past something unusual.
Along the murky seafloor, fish and rocks come in rounded shapes and soft colors, muted grays and greens. His eyes were attuned to this drab underwater landscape, which is why he had been puzzled by brief flashes of light on the video screen, shiny surfaces glimmering by. Then he saw it: a rectangular object, sharp-edged and pale, almost white, with a tinge of yellow.”
TREASURE! The article is very long but if you just want the action… read until the legal part (there are several chapters in the middle dedicated to the seemingly-futile legal aspect of treasure hunting) and then jump to Chapter 11.
Thanks for reading and please share this with someone you love!