What is this place?

It’s essentially one big shrine dedicated to the uncomfortable.

Odd. Why does it exist?

To spite myself.

No, really. Life (for me anyway) is a constant struggle against complacency in routine and thought. This place is dedicated to fighting my natural inclination and giving myself a swift kick in the pants.

How will you kick yourself in the pants?

Well, the act of creating this place itself is a start, and one that doesn’t involve bending my legs backward in an awkward manner. This is about wallowing in the uncomfortable, and there are two main types of discomfort that I’ll focus on.

The first is the discomfort of doing, which revolves around conquering that innate laziness and fear that vegify life. For starters, while I ostensibly like writing, it’s an excruciating process for me. You can rest assured that these words you are reading are causing me pain and suffering, not just in the writing, but also in the knowledge that my amateur efforts are undergoing scrutiny at this very moment. In addition to bleeding my blather onto the screen, I will also work on random projects and ideas that have all too often just stayed in my mind to grow old and fade away.

The second type is the discomfort of thought, which revolves around challenging my preconceptions and stereotypes, as well as taking an honest look at things that I would just as soon ignore. It’s about yanking on the tails of sacred cows (mine or anyone else’s, really) and watching to see how they unravel.

Why should we care?

I have no idea. Maybe it’s fun to watch me squirm? Readership numbers be damned, sometimes you just gotta poke yourself with a hot stick and invite the Internet to watch and maybe grab more sticks.

What’s up with the sections?

Projects: This page indexes, you guessed it, projects.

Random Thoughts features cute kittens playing with yarn. Actually, just random thoughts.

Reviews takes a look at things rarely reviewed (probably for good reason).

There are other ideas floating around, but I’ll save them for when I actually do something about them.

“Discomfort Zone”? Really?

If you hadn’t noticed, all the really cool domain names were taken years ago. Besides, I’m just an 80’s business cliche at heart.

“Let’s brainstorm, people! Think outside of the box! Don’t just get a bigger piece of the pie, ya gotta expand the pie! It’s not about your comfort zone, it’s about your discomfort zone! Profit shmofit, I don’t wanna be a millionaire; I wanna be a billionaire! All right, that’s a wrap. Let’s go to Hooters.”

Your writing/design sucks.

Thanks for noticing. I’m always trying to get better at web design and writing, and would love constructive criticism.

Is this a solo show, or can anyone play?

If you have any project or article ideas, please feel free to email me at discomfortzone@gmail.com. You, too, can kick yourself in the pants and let Google index your discomfort for posterity.

- Cowtipper