This is the year we have been asked to become more than we were. Virtually every aspect of our lives has been disrupted. We have been confined at home, isolating to protect ourselves. Staying apart from colleagues, friends and even family. Wearing face masks. Homeschooling children. Learning technology to keep us connected but at a distance. Juggling too much. Losing work-life and home-life boundaries.

Beyond the physical and logistical challenges, the discomfort extends to the emotional.

This is the year we halted or reshaped major life events. Weddings and funerals have been different. Proms and graduations have been missed. We have been celebrating apart. Grieving apart. Experiencing the tragic loss of life and livelihood across the world. Feeling alone. Not knowing what to say or do. Fearing the unknown.

These uncomfortable experiences break us down, humble our spirit and test us. Although it never feels like it in the moment, this state of discomfort will challenge us to be better. To be stronger. To get outside our comfort zone.

The tragedy of the pandemic, the loss of lives and jobs, has dealt life-changing blows that make it difficult to see a positive future. I try to remind myself, however, that growth and change come from discomfort.

So much has been written attributing success and achievement to our discomfort and the resulting change.

Bill Eckstrom in his 2017 TEDx talk said, “What makes you comfortable can ruin you, and what makes you uncomfortable is the only way to grow.”

James Baldwin, an American essayist, novelist and playwright, wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Face the discomfort. Perhaps, even embrace and appreciate the discomfort and in doing so, move forward.

Recover. Improve. Lean into being uncomfortable because that is where the growth begins. The moment you are forced out of your comfort zone. A job loss. A social movement. A raising of consciousness.

It is a chance to see your world or life with an altered perspective. A chance to renew or innovate. A chance to reexamine our priorities. A chance to understand.

Even if you are not ready to embrace the discomfort, perhaps one feeling we can all accept is to coexist with discomfort.

Allow it to seep into our new normal. Our world has shifted in a matter of months. The economy has shifted. The job market has shifted. Our perspective has shifted. Being uncomfortable may mean watching the news or paying attention to our larger community when you didn’t before.

This is our opportunity. We are being asked to become better than we were. Our success as a community and individuals depends on what we all do next. While I know that 2020 is uncomfortable, it is also a year that rewrites history.

Let’s make it a history we are proud to remember.

Leigh Goodson, Ph.D., is president and CEO of Tulsa Community College.

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