I want you to think for a moment about some of the things in your life that you are most proud of…it could be a relationship, it could be an accomplishment, it could be a limiting belief or fear that you have overcome. Maybe a physical accomplishment like losing a bunch of weight or running a marathon. 

If you want more time to think through some of those moments, you can pause the video.

Most likely, all of these moments came with some sort of difficulty or challenge along the way. They most likely had obstacles you had to overcome, tough conversations you had to have, long hours of work or training, and a whole lot of inconveniences.

Almost always, the things that you appreciate most in life. The most vivid memories you have. The times when you have felt the most alive and the most proud of yourself, came on the other side of some sort of difficulty or challenge.

Have you ever thought about that?

The best things in life don’t usually happen in the absence of challenge…they usually come because of the challenges that we have overcome.  

I was having a conversation with my brother the other day and we were talking about a couple of guys that we know who just seem to be on total cruise control on their lives right now. They don’t seem to be passionate about anything. They don’t seem to be going after their dreams or their goals…they are good guys, but it just feels like something is missing in their lives…they aren’t living energy, passion, and joy.

A friend recently said a guy came up to him who felt the same way and described his life as ordinary, boring, and unintentional. 

These were the three words that this guy chose to describe his life - Ordinary, boring, and unintentional.

And man I have been there so many times in my life! There are a lot of seasons of my life where I have felt like things ordinary, boring, and unintentional.

And when I was talking to my brother, I said they are most likely feeling like this because they have no challenge or adventure in their lives. Challenge and adventure are elements that I have always found awaken me and help me break out of that cycle of feeling like life is boring.

So these next two episodes, I am going to talk about both elements - challenge and adventure

As we hit on early, most of our exciting and exceptional moments in our lives have come after going through challenges.

Yet, oftentimes, we set up our lives in a way that tries to get rid of anything that feels even semi-uncomfortable. We try to avoid pain and discomfort at any price.

In his book “The Power of One More,” Ed Mylett writes, “On the other side of all these amazing accomplishments are the most exceptional memories, events, relationships, and possessions in your life. That’s why, as unusual as it may seem, if you want a fulfilling and blissful existence, you must embrace inconvenience as a way of life.”

If you want a fulfilling and blissful existence, you must embrace inconvenience.

What a change in perspective right? When we think of challenges and obstacles…it’s almost always negative. Those are things I typically think I need to minimize and avoid at all costs because they hurt…they are hard work…they are uncomfortable.

But if you realize that it is the exact existence of those things that makes the high moments of your life that much sweeter, you can learn to change your perspective and start to appreciate them.

One of my favorite ways of looking at this comes from a guy named Colin O’Brady. He is an extreme athlete who has done some incredible things - he is the fastest man to hike to the tallest points in all 50 states. He has climbed K2 in the winter. 

He was the first man to ever walk across the continent of Antarctica unassisted - meaning he dragged a sled full of all his food and supplies and didn’t have help from anyone else. - 54 days straight in Antarctica, by himself, walking 932 miles in freezing cold temperatures.

He has done some truly incredible and also incredibly difficult and uncomfortable things.

He said he likes to look at life on a scale of 1-10…where 10’s are the highest of highs - the absolute best moments in life - most likely these were the things that you thought of earlier. For him it was at the finish lines of these incredible feats, when he got married, when he had a baby - these are the 10’s in life

And then the 1’s are the low moments. The times where you go through great pain or discomfort. 

Most people live consistently in the 4, 5 ,and 6 range…which Colin calls the zone of comfortable complacency. 

Most of our lives are set up to keep us in this zone. We don’t want to experience discomfort or change so we stay here. And we are afraid to really go after the 10’s because we know it will require effort and it takes on some risk.

And most people decide to settle for routine and safety instead of going after their dreams.

I believe if you spend too much time in the zone of comfortable complacency, that you will start to get those feelings that your life is ordinary, boring, and unintentional. 

Even some of the things that are good like a promotion or watching a football game with friends will really only be 6’s or 7’s because you haven’t invested enough time and energy into them. 

And Colin said that he learned that he usually experiences the 10’s because he went through some 1’s, 2s, 3s along the way. Being in the freezing cold in Antarctica was a 1 but crossing the finish line was the ultimate 10.

If you don’t open yourself up to the possibility of experiencing a 1, 2, or 3, then you won’t open yourself up to the possibility of experiencing an 8, 9, or 10.

We don’t experience the 10’s in spite of our 1’s. We experience the 10’s because of our 1’s. It is the struggle, the battle, the discomfort, and then fighting back and rising to the challenge that makes the accomplishment so sweet. 

If you aren’t experiencing much happiness or fulfillment in your life, you may need to take a step back and see if you are consistently living in the zone of comfortable complacency. You may need to take a step back and ask yourself if you have any sort of meaningful challenge in your life right now. 

Are you taking the necessary risks to go after your dreams? Are you putting in the extra work to accomplish your goals? Are you willing to have that tough conversation with your wife to make sure you have a great marriage? Are you going the extra mile in your marriage and putting in work to have a marriage that bonds deeply?

I believe God created men with the ability to take on tough challenges in life. He didn’t create you to be comfortable, he created you to be dangerous. He created you to create, and build, and pursue God-sized things. 

And he has given you his spirit to strengthen you and to help you overcome the obstacles. He says he will never leave you or forsake you. He says he will go before you. He says he will be with you wherever you go. 

I don’t think that I life that is spent only in the 4, 5, and 6 range is a life that is honoring to God and everything that he has given you. 

Do you have meaningful challenge in your life? Have you opened yourself up to feel some discomfort because you know it’s leading to those amazing moments in life?

If not, now is the time to add a little challenge. It seems counterintuitive, but I believe the most happy people in life are the ones who are constantly taking on challenges and they learn to embrace them because it means they are headed somewhere meaningful.

The happiest people I know are growing people…and growing requires being stretched…and being stretched requires taking risks and taking on challenges.

A couple of weeks ago, I got to hike a Colorado 14er with my dad. That’s a mountain that is over 14,000 feet of elevation. He is in amazing shape, but he is 65 years old and has had some trouble with his knees so our plan was to hike one of the easier ones…and when I say easy…they are all extremely difficult. It’s only “easy” compared to some of the other really really hard ones. 

The plan for the weekend was that I was going to do Mt Sneffel’s…a more difficult peak on the first day by myself and then we would hike Mt Handies…more of an easier one the next day together. But when we got to the area of these peaks, we realized the road to Mt Handiese was only accessible with a high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle. 

There was no way for our car to get there.

So he made the amazing and bold decision to hike Mt Sneffels with me. The first few miles were pretty straightforward…on a pretty nice trail and not too much elevation, but things quickly changed towards the top. 

We got to the last 1.5 miles and the trail disappeared and you had to go straight up them mountain on insanely loose rock and gravel. It felt like we were going at about 75 degrees up…it was steep! 

And the loose rock made it extremely difficult. You had to be so careful with every step to make sure the rocks didn’t give way. One slip and you could be in trouble.

We battled all the way up the really steep section and then there was snow near the top that was in the normal route to the top. With it being this steep and with the snow being hard and iced over, it made it impossible to go up the normal route.

So we had to climb up over a ridge doing some pretty exposed and difficult moves. It was a lot harder and scarier than I thought it would be and I couldn’t believe the whole time I had dragged my dad out there to do it and was putting his life in danger.

But we took it one section at a time and finally made it to the top! This was an amazing moment. A moment I will never forget. We celebrated together at the top and thanked God for keeping us safe the whole way. 

The difficulty and the discomfort that we faced along the way made the top that much better! The fact that he took on that challenge and got to the top at this age and is absolutely incredible! I know this is a trip that we will talk about for the rest of our lives. It’s truly a moment I won’t forget.

I know if we had done Handies peak instead, it would have been a good accomplishment, but it was nothing like this accomplishment. We would remember that trip but we would not remember it the same way. 

It was the difficulty, the discomfort, the times we had to push each other, facing the unexpected and being resilient that made that moment a 10.

If you just helicoptered us to the top, it would have been a fun time and the views would have been great still, but we would not have the same appreciation for that moment because we didn’t work for it. Because we wouldn’t have gone through the shared experience of pain and perseverance. 

So many times in life we are looking for the shortcuts in life, trying to experience fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy without being willing to do the work that actually brings those exact things. 

We hope to be helicoptered to the top. We hope to stumble on success. We hope to have the best relationships in the world without being willing to do any of the hard work.

What makes life joyful and fulfilling is not the absence of challenge and difficulty. Life can be joyful and fulfilling because of challenge and difficulty. Without it, nothing would seem fulfilling because it would be easy.

If you find yourself coasting through life. If you find yourself describing your life as boring, ordinary, and unintentional, it is time to take on a meaningful challenge. It’s time to open yourself up to the 1,2, and 3’s of life because you will also open yourself up to the 8s, 9s, and 10s. 

My encouragement to you today is to find a new challenge in your life that you can pursue. Something that is meaningful to you and will awaken your creativity. That will awaken your gifts and abilities, that will stretch you to a place where you have to grow and where you need God to help you. 

Don’t wait until you feel like doing it because you will be waiting for your whole life. Determine the challenge, schedule it, and take action!