How to embrace discomfort and why
Business journalist Amanda Lang moves into realm of self-help with latest offering of profiles
You might expect, as I did, that because Amanda Lang is a Canadian business journalist, her new book, The Beauty of Discomfort: How What We Avoid Is What We Need, would describe how businesses must push out of their comfort zone to cope with change in a fastmoving world. But no.
Lang has moved into the realm of personal self-help. She tells us that as individuals we need to embrace discomfort, or at least take advantage of it to become more creative and effective. That may well be. But unlike her first book, The Power of Why, where she made a strong business case for maintaining a childlike curiosity, the personal profiles here present a mixed picture.
It’s not that they aren’t interesting. Most are, and Lang, while no psychologist, certainly knows how to tell a good story. She introduces us to Jessica Watkins, a young Ontario woman who lost her vision due to a genetic condition.
Although Watkins has gone on to graduate studies, travel and activism, it’s hard to imagine she “embraced” blindness or needed this particular “discomfort” in or- der to grow as a person.
Lang also tells familiar stories of Canadian elite athletes. Ottawa ultra-marathoner Ray Zahab, who had a raging foot infection, ignored doctor’s orders of bed rest and continued his ultimately successful run across the Chilean desert. Vancouver freestyle skier Jenn Heil, on the other hand, took a year’s leave from competition and recruited an entire health care team to train her toward Olympic gold. So what’s the takeaway here? I wasn’t sure.
For me, the most engaging story is of Brampton-born NBA star Tristan Thompson, who truly embraced discomfort by switching his lead hand and improving his shot. Other profiles include controversial U.S. army general Stanley McChrystal, Toronto tech innovator Daniel Debow, Guelph business leader Linda Hasenfratz and Syrian-born torture victim Maher Arar, whose inclusion in a book about “discomfort” made me somewhat uncomfortable. (Or was that the idea?)
Throughout these profiles in courage, Lang offers intriguing tidbits, such as how brain circuitry differs in U.S. navy SEALs. There may not be much we can apply to our own lives, but The Beauty of Discomfort makes for a diverting ride. Marcia Kaye is a frequent contributor to these pages.