Ideagen Global - Catalyze Magazine - November 2023

F I N D I N G P O W E R
I N D I S C O M F O R T
WITH BETSY REED: CO-FOUNDER
& CRO AT CLOUDWERX
Betsy at The Global Goals Summit
Betsy Reed: So relax, and join me as we
get a little uncomfortable. The human
body is a complex machine; as a
testament to many of the speeches heard
here today, I feel like I've learned so
much already. It's made up of hundreds
and hundreds of systems that are
designed to keep us safe. One of those
systems is responsible for the feeling of
discomfort in our bodies, and it comes in
three biological forms: physical, mental,
and emotional.
Of the three, physical pain is probably
the most relatable, as we all have pain
receptors in our body that alert us when
we're in danger of physical harm. When
you put your hand near a hot stove, the
heat receptors notice the heat and alert
you to pull it away. If they didn't exist at
all, we wouldn't know to take our hand
from the stove until it was red and
blistered. The damage is already done.
This is an important system in our body.
Betsy: The second is mental discomfort.
While there's a wide magnitude of
severity that comes from this discomfort,
I'm going to focus on two that are the
most common that we probably
experience on a weekly, if not daily,
basis, and that's cognitive dissonance and
mental fatigue.
Cognitive dissonance is when our
thoughts and beliefs do not align with our
actions. We have evolved to feel the
situation as painful. Why? It prompts us
to course correct and to gain internal
alignment. Think about the last time you
committed to either starting or stopping a
behavior, a hobby, or something like that.
What happened when you went back on
that commitment? It probably didn't feel
good. We've evolved to notice this as a
perception so that we can be triggered to
make clear decisions and stick with them
in the future. It's very important.
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