I am at my friend’s house. She has a new baby. It’s not her first baby but that is beside the point. The baby has discovered moving around, he is excited and reckless. We are all excited and to supplement his recklessness we are all always watching. Because we are always watching every time the baby gets hurt. We all jump and his rescue and comfort him.

I can’t help to wonder “Is this the stage of our lives where we associate pain with comfort?”. I start to wonder “does every time the baby experience pain expects us to comfort him?” Then I look at my adult life “is it pain that hurts me or is it lack of comfort?”. I still do not have the answer but I am convinced that as babies we get conditioned to expect comfort after pain and we grow up to accept that pain is unavoidable but comfort is none negotiable. We do not necessarily desire a life without pain but rather a life full of comfort.

As a person who lives with great anxiety, this experience made me realise I should not be afraid to be excited, maybe not be reckless just be careful. There is a comfort after pain. Instead of living a life where I avoid pain maybe create an environment where there are people excited for me. People-watching over me and people willing to substitute my recklessness.

There will always be a pain. I just need a comfort plan.