Comfort is the Worst Addiction
Both of my children are undergoing a period of discomfort, each for differing reasons.
Elena has some difficult choices to make about graduate school and its cost. Also, she has built a great life this past year in Hilo, HI, and the transition from such a wonderful experience, including the powerful connections she has made, is tough.
Nick is still looking for the right job in an uncertain job market. While I know he'll ultimately find a great situation, it's daunting for young professionals to enter the job market at such a precarious time. There is a lot of economic uncertainty, not just for young professionals but for the entire world workforce.
As a parent, my first instinct is to ask, "What can I do to help?" Is there anything I can do or say to help the situation? It can be agonizing to observe and hear my children in such discomfort.
Then I remember the stoic principle: "Comfort is the worst addiction."
It would be a grave error to save them even if I could. They need to continue to learn to be resilient in the face of uncertainty.
Their character is still forming, and they need the obstacles to fortify their coping mechanisms, ingenuity, and adaptability.
They need to learn to harness their internal inertia to escape the gravity field of complacency. Complacency is a powerful force that enslaves many people, leading them to accept mediocrity. Life is too short to settle for this.
Lastly, comfort tricks us into seeking short-term relief instead of long-term fulfillment. It's difficult to bravely push through the "familiar" to enter the unknown. It takes faith and the acceptance of the risk of failure to experience great new ideas, places, and people.
And then it dawns on me: the help my children need has already been given to them throughout their childhoods. They've overcome obstacles on their own many times; they'veescaped the inertia of comfort many times and achieved amazing outcomes; and they are not afraid of failure.
They've got this!
-Tony
Tony enjoys the uniqueness of properties, the fulfillment of investments and the competitive nature of negotiation. But most of all, Tony enjoys the human side of real estate. At the end of the day, helping folks with the emotional process of buying or selling a property is very gratifying for him on a human level.
Tony specializes working with people experiencing divorce, relocation, life transitions and hard to sell properties. He has 25 years of experience in the Northern Colorado real estate market, with an emphasis in Boulder County and surrounding areas.
He also possesses considerable knowledge of the Boulder County investment property and rental markets, having owned and managed several investment properties in Boulder County and surrounding areas himself.