As I find myself in yet another frigid Ramallah winter, where my apartment is somehow COLDER than outside, the electricity is temperamental at best, the internet never works and if I want to take a hot shower I need to plan at least three hours in advance to warm enough water, I've been thinking a lot about doing without, and how good it is for you. So I wanted to post briefly on that.
Being raised in a solidly upper middle-class home in America means the idea of being cold in your own house (I mean, really cold), or not having television or internet, or not having electricity, is essentially incomprehensible. I certainly had never experienced discomfort growing up. Nor did the vast majority of my peers. Some of us studied abroad in developing countries, but let's be real - us white folk get housed with the rich and powerful and are explicitly coddled with luxuries like our own bedrooms, showers and toilets inside, etc., so we don't freak out at the sheer uncomfortableness we have to live in. The average American will never experience true discomfort in their life. I'm not talking about 'but I love camping!' or 'Well, I spent three months in [insert African country] living in [insert African village] so I totally know what the real world is like'. I'm talking about, spending some time living a real adult life where you have to wake up and go to a job and earn a salary and come home and do all that in a place that is not nearly as cushy as the one you grew up in. The first time I caught myself wearing a blanket and ski hat around my house while dragging a somewhat-explosive gas heater around with me I chuckled. That was 11 years ago. I'm still chuckling, and still dragging the gas heater around.
There's a thing in international development where if you haven't done Peace Corps, you're not considered 'field tested' enough for jobs abroad. I managed to sneak past that unwritten requirement by sheer amount of time spent in weird places, but I do get that logic. I'm not advocating Peace Corps for all, but I am advocating a bit of field testing for all. Go somewhere and live uncomfortably while doing something non-exotic and boring. Even for just a little bit of your life. Get friendly with relentless discomfort. You'll survive, you'll flourish - humans are nothing if not incredibly, wonderfully adaptable and durable things.
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Being raised in a solidly upper middle-class home in America means the idea of being cold in your own house (I mean, really cold), or not having television or internet, or not having electricity, is essentially incomprehensible. I certainly had never experienced discomfort growing up. Nor did the vast majority of my peers. Some of us studied abroad in developing countries, but let's be real - us white folk get housed with the rich and powerful and are explicitly coddled with luxuries like our own bedrooms, showers and toilets inside, etc., so we don't freak out at the sheer uncomfortableness we have to live in. The average American will never experience true discomfort in their life. I'm not talking about 'but I love camping!' or 'Well, I spent three months in [insert African country] living in [insert African village] so I totally know what the real world is like'. I'm talking about, spending some time living a real adult life where you have to wake up and go to a job and earn a salary and come home and do all that in a place that is not nearly as cushy as the one you grew up in. The first time I caught myself wearing a blanket and ski hat around my house while dragging a somewhat-explosive gas heater around with me I chuckled. That was 11 years ago. I'm still chuckling, and still dragging the gas heater around.
There's a thing in international development where if you haven't done Peace Corps, you're not considered 'field tested' enough for jobs abroad. I managed to sneak past that unwritten requirement by sheer amount of time spent in weird places, but I do get that logic. I'm not advocating Peace Corps for all, but I am advocating a bit of field testing for all. Go somewhere and live uncomfortably while doing something non-exotic and boring. Even for just a little bit of your life. Get friendly with relentless discomfort. You'll survive, you'll flourish - humans are nothing if not incredibly, wonderfully adaptable and durable things.
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