The Comfort Crisis summary

There’s going for a walk, and then there’s walkabout – a rite of passage for Aboriginal Australians. For up to six months, young men roam the Australian outback, coping with temperatures of up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Challenges include the lack of food and shelter and the presence of some of the deadliest snakes in the world.

Many communities across the world have similar rites of passage. By undergoing intense challenges, young people come home with greater levels of physical and mental strength, and a stronger sense of identity.

If he screamed, no one would hear him. If he danced naked, no one would see him. He was completely alone, in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.

The sensation was unnerving but also liberating. In the few hours the author spent alone, he reflected on how rare real solitude has become. We’re almost never alone. Technology allows us to stay in contact constantly. And yet, paradoxically, nearly 50 percent of Americans claim to feel lonely. It’s even been described as a loneliness epidemic.

Fad diets aren’t sustainable. Simply put, they don’t work. Only 3 percent of the people who lose weight succeed in keeping it off. Part of the problem is that we’re hopeless at estimating how much we eat. For instance, a 1992 study of overweight people found that participants who thought they were consuming around 1,000 calories were actually consuming double that.

Why is it so hard to eat less? Again, it comes back to discomfort – the pangs of hunger are difficult to ignore.

The author was feeling pretty good about life. But one day, while listening to a podcast, he heard about the cosmic calendar. This concept turns 14 billion years of existence into a single year. The big bang occurred at midnight on January 1. Earth came into existence in early September. The dinosaurs went extinct on December 30. Humans didn’t make their appearance until December 31, at 11:59 p.m.

When the author heard this, he panicked. He was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of his own mortality and insignificance. He and his loved ones would soon be dead. It was a deeply uncomfortable realization.

The hardest part of hunting wasn’t killing but carrying. At one point during his Alaska trip, the author had to carry part of the caribou he’d shot. His pack weighed around 100 pounds, and he struggled with his uphill trek. It was the longest, most intense workout of his life.

We think we know what our physical limits are, but we often underestimate ourselves. Studies have shown that exercise-induced fatigue is generally psychological, not physical. Our bodies are capable of so much more.

Questioning our habits and beliefs can be uncomfortable, too.

For example, consider the importance of handwashing. Even before COVID-19, most of us were regular, if not obsessive, hand washers. Hygiene equals health – or at least, that’s what we think.