Recently, I went to a coffee shop in an area of town with a lot of homeless people.

While I was standing in line, a homeless guy behind me asked, “What does your jacket say?”

(I was wearing a Code Red maintenance jacket that maintenance Rebels could get for completing our annual Maintenance 10K. It has a saying on the back.)

“It says, ‘if you’re willing to suffer, you can do anything,'” I told him.

“Well, that’s not true,” he said.

“Yes, it is.”

He shook his head. “No, you don’t have to suffer.”

“To make your dreams come true and get what you don’t currently have, yes, you’ll have to suffer and sacrifice,” I insisted.

He shook his head again.

“Okay, let me ask you this. Do you, right now, have the life you dreamed of as a kid? Do you have everything you ever wanted?”

“Well, no,” he grudgingly admitted.

“Exactly,” I replied.

He kept trying to argue, but I’d made my point.

(To be clear, it’s not because this guy’s homeless. Plenty of people who aren’t homeless aren’t living the life they always dreamed of, either.)

Later I got to thinking that this guy might have a different definition of suffering than the one I meant.

When I say suffering – at least, in this context – I’m talking about discomfort.

To get a result you don’t already have, you’ll have to be uncomfortable.

And too many people waste too much time trying to avoid any hint of discomfort.

They’re scared, they don’t believe in themselves, or they’re too stubborn, arrogant, cheap, or afraid (or whatever it is) to seek out expert help.

And as a result, they miss out on results in their life that they say they want.

We’ve ALL done it.

But it doesn’t change the fact that, to get a result you don’t have, you’re gonna have to get uncomfortable in SOME way.

Now, are there ways to minimize that discomfort?

Sure. Sometimes we make choices that cause us to suffer needlessly.

It’s a pick your hard situation, just like everything else.

Case in point: If the way you’ve been eating is keeping you fat and sick, you’re gonna have to make some changes if you don’t wanna STAY fat and sick.

But those changes don’t have to mean living on dried chicken breast and slimy lettuce every day for the rest of your life.

Doing that’s an option, but if it sounds like torture, then doing it is needlessly suffering.

You can’t avoid any and all discomfort if you want a result you don’t currently have.

But you can pick and choose which forms of discomfort you go through, and how much discomfort you go through.

Also remember that you don’t have to go through it all on your own.

Get connected to a community like Code Red, where you’re surrounded by people on the same journey. It really helps to feel like you’re part of a group instead of isolated and alone!