Uncomfortable

Hello,

As many of you know I typically don’t use social media on the Sabbath. It’s a day of complete rest. Not out of legalism to some religious creed, but rather because of the benefits I receive.

I do no commerce on Sunday (not even online) or work of any kind. It’s a day to catch up with friends, family, partake in a hobby or other form of recreation. However, today I want to share a few thoughts unrelated to the stock market.

It’s on the topic of being . . . uncomfortable.

The salient truth?

Nobody likes it.

In September, I’ll be taking my third sabbatical trip alone to what you see in the photo that I took a few years ago; the Black Rock Desert. It’s a semi-arid region in northwest Nevada of lava beds; playa & alkali flats situated 100 miles northeast of Reno. It’s so remote that I must drive 40 miles from where I camp to the nearest physical structure & another 15 miles to a food & water source.

It’s so quiet you can hear a tiny pebble hit the ground in the middle of the day.

The Black Rock Desert is a rugged land serrated by hundreds of mountain ranges, dried by wind and sun, with spectacular skies and scenic landscapes that I love to photograph. For the three days & nights I spend there I’m completely cutoff from the outside world. No Internet, no cell service; blazing hot & arid.

It’s uncomfortable.

Yet after a day or so the silence becomes the salve. You begin to journal thoughts you never contemplated & at night the heavens look unlike anything you ever saw before because there’s no light pollution.

The uncomfortable begins to reap dividends that comfort cannot.

This brings me to what prompted this post. My daughter Abigail (in the blue skirt below) went to Kenya last year for 5 weeks to help poor children learn basic skills.

She told me that the trip changed her entire view of the world & her life. You see, she has been a professional ballet dancer since age 14 (doing ballet since age 5). She came in second place in the U.S. Ballet Nationals in Los Angeles in 2024. Missing the first-place spot by 1/4 of a point!

She told me, “Daddy, I love ballet, but I don’t want to be comfortable. I want to be challenged at a deeper level.”

After her trip to Kenya that conversation thread continued which resulted in where she is now, Palawan in the Philippines.

For six weeks she’s teaching children, helping with orphanage & school staff & living in their village with a team of 11 people who went with her.

There’s no running water, no electricity & they sleep as the villagers do, on simple cots with no AC, no fans, & no modern conveniences. The bugs are terrible; the humidity is oppressive & the food is subpar.

She chose to be uncomfortable.

Why?

Because the villagers know she & the team are from the United States. The fact they are living at parity with them & not in a posh hotel in San Jose (the nearest city) brings great respect & care from the Filipino people.

They know the team is choosing to live as they do. (Abigail is in the left center in the light blue shirt & headband).

In this photo below Abigail is on the stage in front of these children teaching them basic life skills.

So, what does being uncomfortable yield in life?

Far more than comfort does.

We live in a society that places far too much emphasis on pleasure, materialism, consumerism, & the infatuation with “self”. Making ourselves uncomfortable to serve others is the greatest way to get out of that “selfie” rut.

In one of Abigail’s letters, she wrote: “This experience means more to me than any trophy I ever won as a dancer.”

Pin drop.

She returns on July 31. We miss her terribly & can’t wait to hear all the stories she will tell.

In the meantime, ponder this today. What ways can you make yourself uncomfortable that might involve risk? Transparency? Self-sacrifice? & Courage?

In synopsis, my 18-year-old daughter has taught me more through her experiences on these trips than I ever imagined. It’s prompted me to dig deeper and examine myself more fully.

I want to explore this question:

“How can I make myself uncomfortable to make a difference in the lives of those who can do nothing for me in return?”

~John