Discomfort and Distraction

Article by Tonya Menz Pignato, LCSW

Photo by Luis Galvez on Unsplash

            Discomfort !!!   What does that mean to you?  What does it feel like in your body?  What do you do to distract from this feeling?   If you are like most Americans; feeling uncomfortable is considered, bad.   It is a feeling we do not allow ourselves to feel for very long.  It is so common for individuals to struggle with “sitting in” their discomfort.   We want to feel better and we want it now

This ability to deal and cope is paramount to our society today. Suicide rates are rising at an alarming rate with our teenagers and our adult populations.   When ‘Logic’ debuted his song “1800-273-8255” live on TV, calls to the suicide hotline sky rocketed 50%.   According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 123 people kill themselves each day making it the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. According to a June 2018 press release by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Suicide is rising in every state.   What I found interesting is that more than half of those people who took their own life did not have a known mental health diagnosis.  They had relationship issues, work and financial problems, physical issues, housing problems, addiction, or loss.  What they had was great deal of stress and difficulty.

Our current society is one that celebrates disconnection from discomfort.  We are intimately involved with our smart phones, computers, and computer games instead of humans.  Jean Twenge, a Profession at San Diego University, found a correlation between the years that smart phones were introduced to our society and the increase in depressive symptoms.  Now, I am not saying that technology is to blame for the astounding suicide rates, but we cannot deny that more and more people are disconnected from human interaction and disconnected from themselves.  They do not have to sit in discomfort when they can sever the feeling with a swipe of the phone. 

            The ability to sit in the discomfort is necessary for our emotional growth.   That unwanted feeling springs us into needed change and transformation.   It teaches us that we can get through it and therefore, not have to be afraid of the feeling.  So, reach out to someone when you are hurting, share your experience and allow them to support you.  Cope with discomfort don’t cover it up.    If you are suicidal, call the suicide hotline it is the title of Logic’s song “1-800-273-8255”.