Comfortable is some dry ass dusty soil in a long forgotten terra cotta pot in the corner of a room with no sunlight that hasn’t been watered in ages and has left your leaves and stems all shriveled up, droopy and sad, flower petals scattered on the floor.

Comfortable is where life goes to die.

YOU CAN’T GROW THERE.

Once you start living outside the confines of your own safe zone and you stop trying to protect and preserve the safe zones of those around you by setting healthy boundaries and speaking your truth, a lot of folks are going to take up issue with it. They’re not going to like it. They’re going to have lots to say. They’re going to get all up in arms.

It might trigger in them, all the things that have yet to address within themselves. Being comfortable with being uncomfortable isn’t easy. Your calm response to their emotional reaction will bewilder them, enrage them even. They might get defensive. Dismiss the conversation. Shut down and walk away. Gaslight you. Guilt you. Shame you. Deflect. Ignore. Smear campaign your name.

Remember: YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR OR THEIR REACTION.

They might claim you are “mean”. They might find you “intimidating”. Too confident. Too bold. Too much. They might even think you a b!tch or an assh0le because you set boundaries, hold space for difficult topics, are open to honest communication, and refuse to deal with bullsh!t, including your own. That’s alright.

They might even try to knock you down a few pegs… put you back where they think you belong, so that they can resume their own version of comfortable and where you fit in that scenario.

DO NOT LET THEM.

Go on. Destroy your reputation. It’s okay. It’s going to happen. Even when you’re professional, even when you’re respectful, even when you choose the high road, even when you refuse to take the bait when someone is trying to get a rise out of you. Just hold steady.

If you ask me….

I’d much rather be NOTORIOUS than “NICE”.

How about you?