My Comfort Crisis — Liberty Wealth

I would not describe myself as a worrier, but there are a few things that I spend time thinking about. One is, getting towards the end of my life and never really having pushed myself to the extreme. Like, really pushed. Never really understanding what my body (and mind) is capable of.

There’s this niggling in me. This niggling that says....you need to do something really hard.

I have been following Michael Easter, author of the Comfort Crisis, for some time. I read his book and now listen to his podcast. Four years ago I wrote a blog post about his book.

I wrote:

“Michael is convinced that by putting ourselves in hard situations we can push back at the comfort creep that has taken over our lives and we can dramatically improve our overall mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. We can shift our perspective.

Forcing ourselves to do hard stuff also means that when something else comes up in life we can draw on our learning and experience. We can say, I am good at solving problems, I have solved problems harder than this before. The ‘I have figured it out before’ value is very important.”

Here’s the other thing I worry about. I really love my comfortable life, but I worry about comfort creep. I worry that I have become too accustomed to nice things, to comfort. I worry about the lack of struggle. How blessed I am to have had, up until now, a life without real struggle, without trauma? But without it, how do you ever discover who you are, or what you can do?

I know I can do hard stuff. I have done hard stuff before. I am capable of doing hard things. But I need something really hard – something that will ‘shift my perspective’.

In my early 20s I ran marathons – I did London three years in a row. Running a marathon is hard, but it’s not really hard. Millions of people run marathons. I do believe that anyone can, if they really want to, run a marathon. Humans are very capable of covering 26 miles on foot. Sure, it takes discipline and consistency but just watch people crossing the line at any major marathon – anyone can actually do it.

In 2006, after my third London marathon, and a pretty good time, I signed up to do the Marathon des Sables (MDS) in 2007.

The MDS has been named the toughest foot race on earth. I am not sure if it is that, but it is pretty epic. It’s a 250km race through the Sahara Desert in temperatures of 40 plus degrees, spread over 7 days, self-supported (you carry all your food and everything you need on your back). Not for the faint-hearted.

Anyway, I never did it – we moved to Cayman at the end of 2006 and life changed.

Back in June this year my brother called me and asked ‘G, did you do the MDS’? No I never did. ‘Oh, I just told a bunch of people you did.’

Urgh.

If you know me, you could see how that might rekindle something in me that has been in the background of my mind for 20 years.

He just told a bunch of people I did something that I have never done. Damn it, now I am going to have to bloody well do it.

That same week I was listening to Michael Easter interview Ashley Paulson, an elite ultrarunner who had just got the course record for the Badwater 135 – a 135-mile race through Death Valley. I was fascinated by her story and what her body could do.

So, I thought, let me just take a look at the MDS. Just a peep.

That evening, at home by myself, I went on the website.

“Sign-up for 2027 opens in 2 hours”.

Urgh again.

Is the universe telling me something?

On nothing more than a whim, I signed up.

My dear friend Lauren did the MDS in 2013 – I messaged her to say “am I mad? I just signed up for 2027”.

Five minutes later she replied – “I have just signed up too”.

At the time it seemed totally whimsical, from both of us. We are, after all, both middle-aged mothers and business owners. We have a fair amount going on in life. We don’t wake up in the morning wondering how we will fill our day. So the fact that we both signed up, there and then, to run 250km across the Sahara desert tells you how deep that yearning for something was inside us. Is it the challenge, the sense of adventure or just for an escape from everything, from all of the daily responsibilities and weight on the shoulders?

(As an aside, if you don’t know Lauren Christie, she is a powerhouse of a woman - she heads up Berman Fisher in Cayman. I first met her at a CFA event when I arrived in Cayman and she later, rather wonderfully, went on to marry one of Al and my closest friends, Mike Joseph. I am god-mother to their beautiful daughter Indie).

That was mid-June.

At that point, I was running – running has been part of my life for a long time – but not running running. Four miles on a Sunday morning, with the dog – that was my ‘long-run’. That sort of running. Staying fit, recreational sort of running. I don’t run races.

We have been training ever since. Now, a recovery run is 10km (6 miles). I have entered the world of ‘ultra-running’, trail-running.

I am doing this challenge from a position of great privilege. At this point in my life, I have the financial means to invest in training and in kit. The MDS is not a cheap endevour at the best of times.

I bought a lot of kit. (My husband regularly asks if we are opening a sports trainer shop in our house). I hired a coach (not cheap) – she has won the MDS 5 times. She tells me what to do every day.

I am pretty good at being told what to do. Almost without fail I complete whatever training she sets me. I am running around 60-70km a week with a couple of strength sessions added in. Running up sand dunes requires specific power and strength in your legs and glutes. Carrying your backpack requires core strength. It’s not just endurance.

I am eating a lot. I have always loved food and now I get to eat the foods that I have spent decades trying to avoid. Carbs – lots and lots of carbs. Two breakfasts. Cake in the afternoon. I am trying to learn how to fuel whilst running. Gels, flapjacks – it’s a whole new world.

There have been ups and downs. The ups?

I am loving the mindset of training for an ultramarathon. Training for a marathon is all about pace. Training for an ultramarathon is all about time. It’s just about being out on your feet, day after day. Tired legs? Get out there and run.

We have lived in Cayman for 20 years but recently we have also been spending time in the UK because our kids are now at school there. There, I have beautiful countryside to run through. I take the dog and I run. I really try to appreciate the beauty of my surroundings, the trees, the leaves changing colour, the hills and fields and animals – the joy of sheep and cows!

In Cayman, where I am now, I have heat. I have the chance for my body to acclimatize to high temperatures.

Some days I feel invisible and then there are days where, honestly, I think this is the most ridiculous thing ever. This week I ran in Cayman with a backpack. The heat and weight. I got home, felt like I was going to die, and thought, that was 10km. I have to run 250km in hotter temperatures with more weight.

Like, actually, how the actual ‘****’ am I going to do that? What the **** was I thinking?

But I try not to let those thoughts linger. People do far harder things in their life.

Since I signed up in June my darling Mum has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of lymphoma and is half-way through an equally aggressive course of chemotherapy.*

That keeps me going – I just have to put one foot in front of the other. It’s nothing compared to what her body is enduring right now.

I can put one foot in front of the other.

So many people don’t have that luxury.

But so many people do!

We are all capable of doing hard things. You are capable of doing hard things. Consistency and discipline – that’s actually all it is. Just keep showing up. Even when you don’t feel like it.

And who knows what you might find on the other side.

I am so excited about finding myself stripped of every comfort in my life, stripped of every label, in the middle of the desert, fighting with my body to go on. Fighting just to take that next step. In the desert you aren’t a mother or a business owner, you are just a runner. There is going to be something that comes from that. I don’t know what it is yet, but I know I will be a different person in April 2027.

Georgie

georgie@libertywealth.ky

*My brother makes content for a living and if you would like to follow my Mum’s journey, follow his family Instagram page, here. I am biased, of course, but she is an amazing woman (and his family is quite cool too).

Lauren and I plan to post a bit more about our journey to the MDS, when we get our act together. For now you can follow on my Liberty Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/libertywealth.ky/ Video content is not my strength, but I will try and post a bit more.