Seneca suggested practicing hardship on purpose now and then, plainer food, a cold morning, going without something you usually lean on, so that real hardship, when it comes, finds you ready. The point isn't to suffer. It's to learn, in small safe doses, that you can be uncomfortable and survive it fine. So much of our anxiety is fear of discomfort we've never actually tested. When you skip the second coffee, take the stairs, or sit with boredom instead of reaching for your phone, you teach yourself a quiet truth: you're more durable than your comfort tells you. That confidence is hard to shake.

Inspired by the old idea of voluntary discomfort. Written by Ugo Charles.