The Pursuit of Comfort
My least favorite aspect of the human condition is that comfort is fleeting. You would think that there would be an ideal position, but no.. With the right goosedown pillow or memory foam mattress, we should be able to lie motionless for hours on end, but in a singularly wicked twist of biology, we can’t. Well, I can’t, anyway. Even in my sleep, I flop around like a frustrated seal that’s being taunted by a herring on a string. Yes, I know this is a weird analogy, but the act of seeking out comfort that quickly transitions into restlessness seems to bleed out into our daily life in profound ways.
Technology, as an obvious example, is always evolving and climbing to temporary plateaus. But a programming language is only good enough when it is brand new, a computer soon becomes antiquated and a huge flat screen tv doesn’t impress our friends anymore. We constantly head off to the store and drop a few more bills on the latest creature comfort. So it is in this modern day consumer based society, but it is all built upon our inherently limited attention span for that which works. Maybe one of the reasons that ‘they don’t build ’em like they used to anymore’ is that we don’t need to — we’re just gonna trash it next year anyway when something shinier tempts us.
It is the same with our relationships. After the buzz from the whirlwind of first dates, kisses, and sex wears off, we typically find ourselves contemplating diminishing returns. We quickly get uncomfortable and discover an overwhelming need to stretch out, roll over, or go for a run.
Maybe our inhherently praiseworthy curiosity is to blame. Maybe it is mankind’s constant search for comfort that has driven us to become the most destructive creative species on the planet. But the problem with life in a world where everything is always improving is that nothing is ever good enough. So, for today at least, I’m done with it. To the discomfort and grass-is-always-greener mentality I say this: I like things the way they are.
For now.