Comfort creep and expectations adjustment

I recently learned of prevalence-induced concept change (Levari et al., 2018). That is the human tendency to constantly make up new problems by lowering the threshold for what we consider problems. Comfort conditions us to look for what’s wrong in order to keep our minds entertained. We make up what’s wrong sometimes to quiet the mind and as a way to feel connected with other humans through a third-party object of attention.

What we deem to be wrong evolves over time as we live an increasingly comfortable lifestyle. Technically, the more comfort, the fewer problems. Practically, the more comfort, the more human-mind-manufactured problems we find, at times creating solutions to those problems that increase our comfort.

One can argue both for and against this concept at the same time. On one hand, comfort creep makes our lives easier and our species evolve to curb the less comfortable circumstances around us. On the other hand, what is uncomfortable around us, at its core, is utterly mind-made and relative to each person for a significant part.

It is mind-made because the degree of comfort you experience varies over time, adjusted for your surroundings. In general, the degree of individual comfort has constantly increased for humans over time. Similar to how money undergoes inflation, the degree of comfort (increased efficiency of execution, decreased need for calorie consumption to achieve a desired outcome) creeps up as time goes by, at least so far in our history.

It is relative to each person because each individual adjusts their expectations based on their perception and degree of desire for comfort. Therefore, everyone’s perception of comfort flactuates over time, and the initial comparison point is relative. For example, the bar for comfort for an average person born and living in a rural village in Thailand differs from yours because the experience of daily life between the two of you is vastly different.

Now if we catapult you to the rural village in Thailand for one month, where your purpose is to live like a local, you will likely experience a significant degree of discomfort, because many things that give you comfort in your usual place disappear (e.g. internet access, concrete house, modern western bathroom, etc.). After some days and weeks, you will adapt to the new circumstances (assuming you are stuck there as part of the challenge), in this case by experiencing discomfort (the opposite of comfort). At the end of your adventure, upon returning to your modern way of living, you will feel a great sense of gratitude for your surroundings and your bar for comfort will be lowered temporarily. Until you adapt again.

You can keep a gratitude practice to decrease the weight of comfort creep. I think this is one of the fundamental reasons as to why many psychologists and scientists recommend a gratitude practice, which may take the form of writing down one thing you are grateful for everyday, or expressing your gratitude to other people on a regular basis. Such practice can increase your awareness of the comfort you are surrounded with, which decreases comfort creep and hence the gap between desires and reality, which in turn increases positive emotions and a sense of stillness.