“If I Just Had a Little More…”
Wouldn’t it be nice to finally have enough?
Enough money. Enough success. Enough control over your life that you could actually relax. No more worrying about bills. No more wondering if you’re behind. Just peace. Security. Comfort.
That’s the dream most of us are chasing. Not just success itself — but the comfort we think comes with it.
We think: If I could just get there… then I could breathe.
But here’s the part most people never stop to question: what if the thing we’re chasing doesn’t work the way we think it does?
Because as strange as it sounds, it’s not the goal that’s broken. It’s the emotional payoff we’ve attached to it.
We assume that comfort is the reward waiting at the top of the mountain — but most of us never seem to reach it. Or if we do, it disappears just as quickly as it arrived.
Why does that happen?
Why is it that no matter how many milestones we hit, we still feel like something’s missing?
Why does the comfort we crave always seem to be just a little further ahead?
The Problem Isn’t You — It’s Your Wiring
Here’s the part that’s both fascinating and frustrating:
Your brain isn’t designed to let you feel comfortable for long.
And it’s not a personal flaw — it’s biology.
Humans are wired for adaptation. Your brain’s job is to normalize whatever environment you’re in so it can stay alert for what’s next. It’s a survival mechanism that kept our ancestors alive.
That same pattern is still running today.
You get a new car. It’s exciting at first. You love everything about it. The smell, the touchscreen, the way the seats hug your back. But give it a month or two, and it becomes just another car. It takes you to work and to the store. The magic fades.
Same thing happens when you get a raise. Or move into a nicer place. Or accomplish something big. At first, you feel that rush — that buzz of “I did it.” But eventually, the feeling levels off.
Your brain doesn’t stay impressed. It recalibrates. And once that new reality settles in, it starts whispering, “Okay, now what?”
That’s what makes the pursuit of lasting comfort such a trap.
You think you’re one step away. One more raise. One more win. One more life upgrade. But the goalpost keeps moving — because your brain keeps adjusting.
To make it worse, it doesn’t just normalize the good stuff. It also starts craving the next thing.
You don’t even get to enjoy what you already have without your brain telling you what’s missing.
So the cycle continues. On to the next thing. And the next.
And if you don’t realize what’s happening, you’ll spend your life chasing a finish line that doesn’t exist.
This kind of re-framing is at the heart of what I teach inside The ADHD Thrive Method — because once you understand your wiring, you can finally stop blaming yourself. See How It Works
Comfort’s a Pit Stop, Not a Place You Live
Here’s the part that finally made this click for me — and no, it’s not some motivational catchphrase. It’s just the uncomfortable truth:
We’re wired to feel comfort after we’ve done something difficult. Not before. Not during. And definitely not instead of.
Think about it: your brain rewards you with satisfaction when you complete something — not when you avoid it.
That’s why the comfort we try to manufacture by avoiding stress never really feels like comfort at all. Procrastination feels safe in the moment, but after a while, it turns into anxiety, guilt, and frustration. You don’t feel rested — you feel stuck.
We think we’re protecting ourselves by avoiding discomfort, but we’re really just delaying the only thing that makes comfort possible: progress.
Let me put it another way:
Comfort doesn’t come from avoiding hard things.
It comes from showing up, doing the work, and earning the peace that follows.
It’s the doing — the challenge, the effort, the completion — that creates the experience you’re looking for.
And the metaphor that helped me really feel this came from imagining life as a caveman.
The Caveman and the Berry Tree
Picture this: you’re a caveman. You’re hungry. And you know there’s a tree nearby with food — ripe, juicy berries — but they’re at the top of a 200-foot climb.
You’ve got two choices.
You can try to climb the tree. You know it’s going to be hard. You might slip. It’s going to take energy you don’t feel like spending.
Or…
You can start wandering around, hoping you’ll stumble on something easier. Maybe there’s a bush somewhere close by. Maybe something will just show up.
So you wander.
And time passes.
And you get hungrier. And more frustrated. And now you’re tired, still hungry, and kind of mad at yourself for not just climbing the tree in the first place.
Meanwhile, if you had just climbed it — yeah, it would’ve sucked for a bit — but you'd be full now. And proud. And more at peace, both physically and emotionally.
That’s how most of us live our lives.
We’re avoiding the tree.
But the wandering doesn’t give us what we’re looking for either.
And eventually, we have to admit: comfort doesn’t come from avoiding the climb. It comes from completing it.
This caveman story is simple, but it’s exactly how ADHD brains get stuck. Inside The ADHD Thrive Method, I break down how to flip this pattern and finally move forward. Check It Out Here
So What Does That Mean for You?
It means that if you’re still holding out hope for a moment when everything will settle, and you’ll finally feel okay forever… it’s time to let that go.
It’s not coming.
Not because you don’t deserve it — but because it doesn’t exist.
There is no version of life where your brain says, “Alright, you’re done now. You’ve made it. You’re good forever.” It’s just not built to do that.
So instead of chasing the kind of comfort that’s always one step ahead of you, start chasing the kind that comes after you’ve done something hard.
The comfort of completion.
The satisfaction of showing up when you didn’t want to.
The calm that follows discomfort — not the one that tries to avoid it.
It’s not a forever kind of feeling, but it’s real.
And it’s always there for you — if you’re willing to put in a little sweat first.
Seems like a fair trade to me.
Want More Insights Like This?
This is the kind of "backward-but-true thinking" I go deep into inside my course — where I teach you how to stop chasing the wrong goals, and start building a life that works with your brain, not against it.
If you’re tired of feeling stuck, restless, or like peace is always one step away, this might be the shift you’ve been needing.
Click here to learn more about the ADHD Thrive Method course and how to get started.
