The Power and Importance of Comfort
I am typing this blog post at 11:19 at night in bed, laying flat out on my back, with an android tablet suspended over my head while typing on a Bluetooth connected keyboard laying across my legs. And I am completely comfortable. It helps that I have the peaceful sound of my golden fur son's snore purring at my side, and my hubby is here in bed too. I have my heart full with my family love while my head is still filled with whirling thoughts that I want to put into a blog.
This set up has been a long time in the making. I've made previous attempts to no avail. But this time, somewhat born out of necessity, I was determined to find a solution that would work. I came to the realization recently that if I was seriously going to get my blogs launched with some consistent writing, I was going to need to find more time in my day. The only time that is a practical option is the time late in the evening when I am in bed watching YouTube or reading the news on my phone.
If only I had the right set up to type blog posts while in bed.
What might sound like a fairly straight forward solution for most folks is of course, for me, slightly more challenging. Because of my disability I can't sit up. Well, I can't sit up unassisted and I definitely can't do it comfortably for long periods of time. Additionally, when I am laying down, I really need to be on my ventilator (sleep breathing machine). My body just simply has to work too hard to breathe laying without it for even a short amount of time, especially at the end of a long day.
I found a relatively inexpensive tablet mount on Amazon and secured it to our bed’s headboard with zip ties (side note: I LOVE zip ties!) This set up still needs some tweaks. But overall I think it is going to be a very good long term solution. I've already written several posts with this newfound source of productivity time and it really feels great. Which leads me to the real inspiration for writing this post. And that is I think comfort is one of the most highly overlooked and underappreciated states of being as a human.
Really think about it for a minute. For all things we can't control in life, things we can't predict about the future, and all the painfully complicated struggles we face— what is the one thing we can experience the most IN THE MOMENT? Comfort. Am I hot? Am I cold? Am I thirsty? Is the TV too loud? Does that picture on the wall bring me joy or cause me stress? Every day there a million experiences we have. Some easier to change than others. But I believe we can be much more proactive agents of creating comfort— no demanding comfort— than we currently are.
But arriving to this state of mind takes a lot of self-awareness. It also takes a healthy dose of self-esteem and stubbornness. You have to be willing to ask yourself the get-real questions, believe that you are worthy of the best, and not give up until you get there.
Fun fact about me is that I love watching reruns of 80s and 90s television shows. I recently finished re-watching Cheers on Netflix. In the last scene of the series, Sam and the rest of the gang are sitting around the bar smoking cigars and contemplating the meaning of life. Cliff's answer: comfortable shoes. Sure, that answer can get cheap laugh for it's over-simplicity, but for a mailman, comfortable shoes are really important!
Which underscores the point that of course comfort is subjective. Comfort will mean different things to different people. And it is unrealistic to think comfort can be achieved at all times. But shouldn't that be the goal? Because at the end of the day isn't that what matters? There are so many things I can't control. But I can control how my home functions for me; how my fuzzy socks keep my feet warm; how this tablet suspended over my head is allowing me to comfortably type this blog post.
Indeed, I don't know if any of these things are the meaning of life, but I absolutely believe they mean something.
