Do you limit yourself of your own immense potential? There’s an important mind shift that may need to happen. Keep reading to find out what that mind shift is and how to make the shift in your own life!
Whether we realize it or not, what we value most will affect all of our decisions in life. It will affect what we do and what we don’t do. It will affect how we talk, how we feel, and how we react to others or to situations around us. When it comes to living a vibrant life with purpose and intentionality, there’s a key mind shift that must take place that will, in turn, change our value system. That mind shift is a shift from valuing comfort to valuing character development.
This is not an easy shift. All of us have a tendency to value our comfort. Who doesn’t like being comfortable right? But when we value our comfort over our character and over the further development of our character, we limit ourselves tremendously. It’s literally like putting restraints on our lives. We can’t grow as individuals when we don’t value our growth over our comfort. If you want to see growth happen in your own life, this mind shift is an important one.
Here are three ways valuing comfort over character places limitations on your life and keeps you from living your most vibrant life:
The first way valuing comfort over character limits us, is that it causes us to miss out on opportunities in life. If you value comfort over character development, you will say “no” to anything that would cause you to become uncomfortable. This might include a new job, moving to a different state, an opportunity to try something you’ve never tried before, a new relationship, the list goes on. There’s a lot of things in life that can make us feel uncomfortable. If comfort is our goal and what we value most in life, saying “no” to all these opportunities and adventures is going to be the obvious choice.
The second way it limits us to value our comfort over character is that it creates a lack of self-discipline. If you do try something new, you’ll quit as soon as it becomes difficult. Say for example, I try starting an exercise routine. If I’m valuing my comfort, as soon as it begins to feel uncomfortable, I’m done. No more of that, it’s too hard. In other words, it’s too uncomfortable. So I continue to leave exercise out of my daily routine because it makes me uncomfortable.
You may have tried to change an unhealthy pattern in your life. But as soon as that felt uncomfortable because it was new and different from what you were use to, you reverted back to what is comfortable: your old patterns. What’s comfortable to us isn’t always what’s good for us; and it certainly isn’t always what’s best for us. It’s only when we value character over comfort that we become willing to push through the hard things. It’s only then that being uncomfortable makes sense, because we understand that, through that hard, we grow character.
Romans 5:3-4 says, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
The third and most tragic limitation that valuing comfort over character causes is that we miss out on becoming all that God created us to be and living the life He intended for us. When we say “no” to opportunities that God puts in our lives, and when we lack the self-discipline to change patterns and become healthier, more whole versions of ourselves, we miss out on our potential. We miss out on all that God has for us. We miss out on opportunities to partner with God and see Him work in and through us. We miss out on allowing Him to do the hard, and uncomfortable work deep within our hearts and souls that would ultimately bring healing and restoration.
Nine years ago, God put on both my husband’s and my own heart to move away from where we were living at the time in Colorado Springs. He wanted to do something new in our lives. He wanted to bring restoration, joy, hope, relationships, purpose, and so much more. But at the time, all we knew is that we felt called to move. We would begin to look at different options. But as soon as the thought of moving became real, we’d back away. We valued our comfort too much. We valued our comfort more than we valued allowing God to build our character through going through the hard part of moving. We said no again and again.
Thankfully, even when we push back, God still remains faithful. He kept pursuing us. We finally said yes and pushed through the discomfort of moving to a new place. I’m sure any of you who have ever moved to a new place know what that discomfort feels like. God had so much hope for us, but we had to endure and persevere to develop the character through the discomfort first.
I want to add a little side not for anyone who has children like I do. Help your children learn to value their character over their comfort. Too often, I see parents valuing not only their own comfort, but their children’s comfort as well over their character. Help your kids learn that they can push through the hard and teach them to persevere and not give up. Encourage them to keep going when the going gets rough. Inspire them to go out and try something that will stretch them as people. Set them up to become people of character and, most of all, help them on their journey to become the individuals God created them to be. It’s going to be uncomfortable at times. Let them know that this is okay.
So let’s summarize:
If we want to grow more into becoming who God made us to be, we must value our character over our comfort.
When we value our comfort over developing our character, we set limits on ourselves.
If you have children, help them learn the value of pushing through hard things and not giving up.
Do you need to make the shift from valuing comfort to valuing character? Leave me a comment, I’d love to know!
If you want a head start in your journey to becoming the person God created you to be, I’ve made some printable journal prompt pages that are yours for free! You can click here to download those and use them each morning to really set your day off right!
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