I’m staring at the blank screen. Waiting for the words to come. Waiting. I reach for my iPhone to scroll through Instagram, lying to myself that it will fuel my creativity. Realizing that I left my phone in another room to save the distraction, and not being able to be bothered getting up to retrieve it, I sit. Stare back at the blank screen. Gaze at the trees in the distance. Ponder my existence. And then, a minuscule spark of inspiration flickers in my mind. I sit. Another spark. I turn to the screen and start to write. I stay with the words even when I’m not even sure what I’m writing. And the words slowly but surely unfold.

I’m hungry. I know that I have a photo shoot in four days and I want to look my best. But I’m hungry. In an hour I can have my green smoothie, with the spices and greens and all the things that make me feel good on the inside and glowing on the outside (what you kind of need for photo shoot radiance). But I want eggs and bacon. Even though I’m mostly vegan. On my walk this morning it was all I could smell as I rounded up through the cafes at the end of my journey. It’s Sunday. Everyone’s eating. But I wait. Wait for smoothie time. Knowing that I will feel satisfied and nourished. I’m annoyed. But still, I wait.

Discomfort. We want to move away from it as soon as it surfaces. Of course we do, we’re human and it’s uncomfortable. We live in a culture that provides endless methods of instant gratification to move us from discomfort to momentary pleasure so we don’t have to ever be uncomfortable if we don’t want to be. Not on the surface at least.

But growth happens in the discomfort. Creativity happens in the discomfort. Magic happens in the discomfort. So go for the growth. Do whatever you need to do to get uncomfortable. Learn to sit in it. And wait for the magic.