The Pleasure Pit
Some of the best stories share the same warning: comfort can be a trap.
Table of Contents
What it is
In “Life of Pi,” it is Meerkat Island, beautiful and abundant by day, lethal by night. In “Percy Jackson,” it is the casino, where comfort causes time to vanish. In “Big Fish,” it is the town with no shoes, so pleasant that ambition fades.
In each story, the hero has to recognize what is happening and choose to leave. Not through force, but through willpower and self control.
Comfort over purpose
The pleasure pit is comfort that replaces purpose. It offers relief from effort and tries to convince you that the journey is no longer necessary.
The hero succeeds by staying focused on the goal and resisting.
Your own story
We are all the hero of our own story. We have goals. We face obstacles. And at some point, we all get comfortable.
The pleasure pit is not just a storytelling device. It shows up in real life all the time.
If you are looking for a practical way to stay focused on your goals, I wrote about an exercise that changed how I approach this in This One Concept Changed How I Think About Time.
Stay the course
Start your week by checking in with yourself. Are you moving toward your goals, or has comfort pulled you off course?