the zurkie show - you won’t grow if you stay here

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

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I thought that having a good life meant having comfort. It meant having things that you wanted, when you wanted them, without needing to struggle for them. And it's kind of odd because we have that now. You are hungry. You want to order something. You can order something any time of the day. You are bored. You can look at a plethora of different media to entertain your dopamine-fixed mind.

You are lonely. I can fix that. But comfort is the enemy. It's the thing that is going to be the demise of our society if we continue to just always give into it. Let me explain. Comfort is a thing that you don't understand its implications until it's too late, until time passes.

You think that being in this space that feels good, being and doing things that satiate you, and don't challenge you is the thing you're supposed to do but in reality you do not grow from that you stay stagnant and I don't know it seems like a lot of our adult life

is designed for stagnation it's not designed to continue to push yourself and a lot of that push has to come from you which is so odd because it's it's like what do I do

as an adult you're given so much time. It's not like you have a schedule like at school or in college. You have free time, except it's an illusion of free time. You have to work. You have to care for your family. You have to care for yourself, which is also a weird thing because nobody really teaches you that either. And so the one thing that you can count on that you've been brought up with is this idea that comfort is good. When you had a stressful day at school you probably unwind watching some kind of rabbit hole or iceberg you know video when you were stressed out about things going on in your friend group well there was a family family size bag of

Doritos waiting at home but that comfort is so indulgent and it is so destructive to you long term that when you get addicted to comfort it is the hardest thing to get rid of and the The weird thing is now there's a counterculture against that. We've seen people become hyper athletes, like doing, you know, five different workouts in one day, running triathlons, and doing all these incredible feats of human physicality and athleticism. But that's not the solution either, because most people are not going to do that. I am not going to go and run an Iron Man right now because it's not something I'm interested. interested in. I don't have a desire to go out and do it. And you could be like, well, comfort is the enemy, Zerk. You got to lock in. But no. No, I don't want to do that. And there's a good chance you don't want to do that either. What you want is you want to feel like you are worthy of existing on this planet. That's what you want. That's what I want. And we know that, A, it does not come from doing an Iron Man. I mean, that's cool. That's a great goal. But B, it doesn't come from comfort either.

Because if you stay comfortable, if you just do the things that you're good at, if you just relax all the time and you do not push yourself to do anything, you will stagnate. You will succumb to the mundane hum of this life. And I don't think that you need to be a high achiever to get the things that you want out of this life. But you need to recognize when you are comfortable and when that comfort is the enemy. Because there is comfort that works for you. Everyone needs to rest. Everyone needs time to chill, to relax, to go on a walk, to socialize. We need these things to keep our human balance.

Yes, in theory, it is so awesome in your mind that you are going to be this hyperproductive individual that you've seen on all of your algorithms. But that is not you. You are a human being. you have flaws, you have needs, and sometimes you wake up tired, and sometimes you wake up with a need of connecting with someone and not locking in for eight hours. Now, we have to be careful, because there's a bit of accountability that comes with recognizing that comfort is the enemy. And this is where I really want you to ask yourself a few questions.

The main one. Are you comfortable? Yes or no. Are you comfortable? Do you feel comfortable with your friend group with your eating habits with your workout split with your creative pursuits with your college applications grind? Do you feel comfortable? If the answer is yeah. Okay, that's cool. Could you do more? And not like in theory, oh, I could be doing more? Could you do more with the pride and the desire to be better. Not because other people are doing more,

not because, well, this guy is on top of everything and this guy's doing a Yale application and like, this guy has the most insane pecks in the gym, which, what? Listen, if you think I'm not looking at your pecks in the gym, famously I am, because I'm looking at mine and being like, okay, I need to hit the upper chest incline a little bit. You know what I'm saying? I got to get my dumbbell press up. Um,

um, like, are you doing enough? That is a question I've had to repeat to myself over and over and over again. Am I doing enough? Because you know, you know when you're slacking. You know when you're not doing enough. There is a aura about you. There is a feeling of disappointment. comfort can be masked as disappointment and I think that's a very very dangerous emotion to indulge in comfort because disappointment it erodes you it's like the Grand Canyon okay disappointment will continue to flow through your your body and your soul and it will continue to erode out of the potential that you have as a human being until there is a shell there is a canyon of who you once were.

Now it still can be beautiful. You know, the Grand Canyon's pretty awesome. But everyone always wonders, dude, what was here before all of this? Like, what caused all of this?

And you're going to wonder the same thing about yourself. And I don't want you to wonder the same thing about yourself. And there's a good chance that in order to prevent that, you might have to look into what is making you so comfortable.

Is it actually that you have earned chilling on the couch and binge watching a whole season of who knows what? Or is it just a distraction? Is it distracting you from the fact that you don't like yourself? And you're not happy with where you're at in your life. And listen, if that's the case, there's no shame in that. Join the club.

So many of us are striving for more. So many of us have a complicated relationship with ourselves that we are building as adults because as children, we are not taught that. but it doesn't mean that you should just throw it all away. And it doesn't mean that you should just succumb to every comfort that you have readily available. It doesn't mean that you should just cocoon yourself from the rest of the world when the world needs you. It means that you have to understand that what is making you feel comfortable right now.

It's the enemy. It's the enemy. And it doesn't mean going on a 20-mile run. not going to solve it either. It's about figuring out why you continue to just go into your comforts, whether that's foods, whether that's shows, whether that's people. Yeah, some people can be comfort. Some people can just be there to pass the time. And oftentimes we spend our entire lives just being around people that don't inspire us, don't make us push for more, don't hold us accountable. They don't want the best for us. They just don't want to be alone.

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Saving those children is how we all go home. From Binge All Episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. And I mean, if you want that, that's a choice and that's a decision that you can make. I'm not somebody who can make that decision for you, but I have made it apparent in my life that I only surround myself with the people that want the best for me and push me for more. And they will tell me when something is wrong or something irks them. And they will be honest about my shortcomings. Do you have those kind of people around you right now?

Chances are you don't. Because it's more comfortable to be around the people you've known your entire life. It's more comfortable to be around the people that have similar interest than you that like to, you know, indulge in the same stuff as you do. but when you strip all that away if you were not doing something together they would not be there for you

that's why I don't do friend groups I learned my lesson many times that friend groups are not the meta it's better to have groups of friends it's better to have people that are brought together with a common cause and will want to do more than oh well we all kind of just like

look the same so we're all going to be friends and you don't learn that way and you should have a multitude of different friends from all different walks of life, all colors, all creeds, all orientations, everyone. You should, in my opinion, look for different perspectives and different people to challenge the way that you think. Because if you don't do that, that is comfortable. That's comfort.

It is deliberately shorting your brain of potentially building yourself into a human being that understands the world a little bit better. because this world is not black and white. Every decision to think a certain way has a consequence, too. And if your way of thinking is that comfort is your friend and that you should rely on it all the time, I'm here to tell you that comfort is the enemy. And if this makes you feel like, oh, my God, Zerk,

you are like kind of, you're just exaggerating. Like, dude, just because I like to chill and play some video games, It's not it's like come on it doesn't mean that I'm not productive at all and you're right You are right. I'm not saying that What I'm saying is if you are comfortable and you know that you are comfortable and you don't like it Do something about it Because if this if you hear this statement and you're like well, I'm chilling bro. I'm on some like I'm chill then you're chill famously you're chill you don't have anything to work

worry about. But if you hear that and you're like, that's me, that's me, I'd be doing that, then okay. How do we become less comfortable? You become less comfortable by going into the things that make you feel uncomfortable. I wish that there was a better way to describe it, but it's usually the truth that you know in your gut is the right one. If you feel like you are socially anxious and you want to talk to more people, do you know what the answer to getting away from that social anxiety is? It's talking to more people. If you want to be more athletic, I literally had this happen this past week. I wanted to be more athletic. I want to be in better shape. I really have let myself go a little bit. Weight-wise and also just like I have let myself go in terms of

my eating habits and staying up late. I'm just not, I have not been healthy. It's never too early to plan your summer story in Europe with WestJet, from rolling countryside to cobblestone streets. Begin your next chapter. Book your seat at westjet.com or call your travel agent. WestJet, where your story takes off. Amazon presents Jeff versus Taco Truck Salsa, whether it's Verde, Roja, or the orange one. For Jeff, trying any salsa is like playing Russian roulette with a flamethrower. Luckily, Jeff saved with Amazon and stocked up on antacids, ginger tea, and milk.

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I got invited to play on a soccer team, on a Sunday league team. And I had the option to say, you know what? No, I'll go play next week. Like, you know, right now is not a good time for me. and after three years, four years of not playing 11 v. 11, like a full field soccer game, I just decided, okay, I'm going to play. I threw myself in to the game, and I sucked. I was so bad.

Like, I was atrocious. I probably touched the ball maybe 10 times. I ran for 20 minutes, and I was the least conditioned person on that field. It was, it was embarrassing. But what helped was the fact that I knew I could be proud of myself. Because I didn't let comfort win this time. I recognized, I'm like, okay, if I want to challenge myself, I need to do this. Like I cannot just sit here and be dormant and not do some kind of action.

I need to actually move. I need to see where, where is the level that I am at. in terms of my fitness so I can work from there. A lot of us are not even capable of just trying. Just seeing. Where are you? Where are you? Yeah, dude.

Oh, man, I want to build this business. Have you even tried to start like the website? No, bro, no, no, I don't. The limiting beliefs. That's where you live. because that is comfort. The limiting beliefs are an easy fallback

because you don't need to prove them. There's nothing to prove. You already believe it, so it's already true. But if comfort is the enemy, I want you to know that's not an option anymore. If comfort is the enemy, you realize I can't make this a cop out. I can't just say, well, it would have never worked out.

I can't just, you know, when I see, I don't know, my type at an H.E.B. Or a Jewel Osco, I can't just be like, no, whatever. No, I'm not going to go up to them. Like, they don't think I'm cute, whatever. Because comfort is the enemy. And that's being comfortable. And when you put yourself in discomfort, you honestly realize that this world works on action.

Anything you want in this world works on action. You have to do in order to reap. and to have. You need to do in order to learn. You need to recognize that comfort is not going to help you. It will make you feel good in the short term, but it's not going to get you to the place that you want, ever. Start living like comfort is the enemy.

Let yourself rest. Do things that feel comfortable. Yes, that is also important. But if you know that you are selling yourself short, if you know that there are things that you are giving yourself, excuses for. Just recognize that that's comfort. That's not truth. Do something about it, Zerky Show. Today's episode of The Zirky Show is filmed in beautiful Austin, Texas here on Mount Bennell. If you're ever in Austin, come check out Mount Binell. It is so gorgeous. Did you know that

the Zirky Show is everywhere you go? That is correct. You can watch it. You can scroll. You can stream it. The choice is yours. If you want to tap in, these are the best ways to tap in. Do the things that bring you joy, change your environment. Go study at a coffee shop. instead of studying at home, meet up with a couple of friends, go and actually visit that one park that you keep driving by on your way to school, that you're like, oh, that'd be cool to go there. Go with them, hang out, throw a frisbee. Be in spaces where you can meet people.

That is the best way to do it. And our generation needs to do more of it. If you're trying something new, just know that I believe in you. And as always, Zerky Show, I am sending you lots of love and peace. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play. Feel the fun with Play Ojo.

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