The Last Post

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So this is it, after close on 4 years of the Discomfort Zone, this is the very last post before its demise. As of next week there will be a shiny new, very different looking blog and the name The Discomfort Zone will revert from whence it came, to my newsletter.

I’ll update you on all of that next week, but suffice to say, if you’re subscribed to the blog, nothing much will change and you’ll continue to either see it in your RSS feed or receive it via e-mail as before. If you’re not subscribed,  I forgive the obvious glaring oversight on your part as I know you’ve been busy and you can remedy that immediately by clicking here.

I wanted to make today all about saying thanks to the people that have helped, supported and inspired me over the last 4 years. With that in mind I wrote to some of them and asked if they’d supply a link and maybe a short intro to one of the best posts they have written.

I have no doubt I’ll have missed people and I’ll feel suitably guilty afterward, but that is the nature of list posts like this.

I don’t think anybody would doubt it’s a very eclectic bunch of bloggers with posts on subjects as disparate as canned food, spiritual healing, selling, happiness, house repossession and of course, sex. There are posts that can literally be read in 10 seconds, others where reading isn’t even needed and not one that rambles on as much as I do.

Some are funny, some very serious and one not so much on the edge, as over it and down the other side. Thanks Alisa!

The one thing that binds them all though, is they’re written by really wonderful people I’m grateful to have met and I hope you are too.

Johnny B Truant

Since it’s a given that the purpose of having authors choose their own favorite stuff means making ourselves look important, I’ll skip the false modesty and just go into why what I wrote is terrific.

I’m sure I’ve written more elegant prose elsewhere, but this post is my favorite because it represents a very important turning point in my personal evolution. Prior to this, I had been experiencing a hell of a lot of angst and general emotional pain around money — so much that I wasn’t sleeping much and was close to panic attacks. But with this post, I essentially said:

“Things have always turned out fine. They will turn out fine this time too.” And so I decided in advance to have faith that something stupidly optimistic would happen: That I could find $2000 out of the blue in three days, with no real prospects to do so.”

I wrote the post while that seemingly ridiculous order was still on the table, not after it had resolved. And look what happened.

What Faith Has To Do With Martin Scorsese And His Detachable Penis

Bob Poole – Bob Poole’s Water Cooler Hangout

Some people tell me that they would rather take a chance on eating sushi from a mall food court vendor than selling anything to anyone. Here’s a couple of ideas that might help you change your mind – about selling that is. You’re on your own if you buy sushi at a food court.

What’s That Bad Feeling In My Gut

Jonathan Fields – Awake At The Wheel

Problem is all my posts suck! LOL. Actually, the real problem is I can’t say I honestly have a fave post, but I kinda like this one. The funny thing is, it wasn’t planned. An idea popped into my head and 10 minutes later, the completed post popped out. More or less stream of consciousness.

I’ve often found, and maybe you have too, that the stuff that resonates most is the stuff that just bursts onto the page without a ton of forethought and editing. Maybe it’s that process that makes it feel realer to the tribe. Dunno. But, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Eight Timeless Rules For My 6 Year-Old Daughter

Tracy O’Connor – I Hate My Message Board

It’s only the tiniest bit disconcerting to be most famous for pouring a chicken out of a can. The funny thing is that I’m convinced it wouldn’t have been nearly as popular if the bones hadn’t been so loose as to prohibit me from just pulling the chicken out of the can so I could save the broth. Instead I found myself having to pour it out and just went with it and snapped the pictures as best I could.

You can see that my middle son got his head in some of the shots with chocolate all over his face and I couldn’t shove him out of the way because that chicken was just gushing out and I wasn’t about to try and stuff it back in for another chance at getting a perfect photo. I wish I’d made clear that it was fancy chocolate with bacon in it so that the internet wouldn’t have made fun of the poor little thing and my mothering skills.

This post went viral while I was getting life coaching from Tim and I remember him telling me that not everyone would think of buying a chicken in a can and photographing the uncanning and posting it on the internet. Still having a hard time wrapping my mind around that since it seems to me the obvious way events would unfold from the moment one heard about the existence of such a thing. What can you say? People, eh?

A Whole Chicken In A Can

Alisa Bowman  – Project Happily Ever After

So choosing the best one is causing some cognitive dissonance (yes I just read your post; yes I know I’m using the term a little incorrectly).

Tracy says my best post is What To Pack For A TV Appearance, but this is the one that everyone talks about.  And if Tracy’s is chicken in a can, then I am;

‘Don’t Even Think About Reading This At Work’

Tim’s Note: The name of this post is not a mistake the material within is of an adult nature, if you’re at work, easily offended or Tipper Gore then seriously, you should avoid clicking on the link.

Jenny Mannion – Heal Pain Naturally

These last few years have been one of great change for almost everyone I speak to.  If you watch the news you certainly might think these were the worst of times for everyone.

The last 3 years have been some of the best of my life and it is possible to stay happy during what we can call, “Uncertain Times”.  After healing myself of several chronic diseases I embarked on a journey that has changed the way I look at life.  I realized how important our mind and spirit are to our bodies and have since written over 200 posts on healing naturally.

I feel it is very important to be conscious of how we are feeling and what we are focusing on to make ourselves feel that way.  We ALL have the capacity to change our reality as we know it.

Seven Ways to Stay Positive and Happy in “Uncertain Times”

Vered – Momgrind

I don’t know about my “best” post ever, but this is, hands down, my

favorite post ever. I love it because it is real, honest, and beautifully captures the “other” side of parenting, the side no one talked about until moms started writing blogs and sharing their struggles.

Worst Mom Ever

Mike – Mikes Life

My favorite ever post on Mike’s Life was the shortest one I ever wrote. For me, it sums up the pithy, slightly ironic writing I aspire to, but fail to measure up to on an almost daily basis.

It’s not remarkable in any other way – it hasn’t been read very much, it only ever attracted three comments and it doesn’t attract any search traffic at all! But I like it!

Blogging As The Perfect Customer Circle

Ali Hale  – Aliventures

I really like my post “What Makes YOU Happy?” on Aliventures. It was one of those posts where the process of writing helped my thinking, and it met with a great response from my readers, with some lovely insights shared in the comments.

It’s taken me too many years to realize that I may as well embrace the stuff which makes me happy — however wacky, wonderful or weird that may be — and that I can also accept that other people might be made happy by totally different things.

What Makes You Happy?

Sean Platt – Writer Dad

I started writing two years ago, immediately heading online to make my dreams come true. The adventure was more grueling than I imagined and my family lost everything. But it turned out that losing everything was only the beginning to a best possible life.

Losing Our House With A Smile On My Face

Carl Harvey – Personal Development Planet

It’s been a bit funny trying to decide on my “best post ever”. Not only is it a tad self-indulgent, but if I pick the wrong one people will immediately conclude “if that’s his best post, I’d better avoid his others like swine flu”. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, this.

Anyway, after much consideration I followed my gut and opted for Shift in Consciousness; a post I wrote after a truly transformative and enlightened couple of days spent at a spiritual-type workshop. The content in this article has massively impacted my enjoyment of life – and helped me to jump onto the official Rich and Happy (TM Tim Brownson) path.

The principle of the article is simple: our well-being, happiness and security are actually intrinsic and not reliant on external successes – such as money, jobs or other people’s opinions of us. This is admittedly totally counter-intuitive, based on the way our society operates – but when you begin to grasp the (simple) idea that you create your own levels of happiness and well-being, it’s like waking up in the bloody Matrix.

This article is designed to gently tear down your existing model for viewing the world, and help you to integrate a simpler, more rewarding and ultimately more useful framework.

Shift In Consciousness

So there you have it and I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out some classic stuff from some of my bestest online buddies. I bet you’re dying to know what I think my own favorite post is, right?

Well tough because I couldn’t possibly pick just one, that would be like asking me which is my favorite testicle.

Note: Please feel free to comment on any of the posts you have read or even let me know which you think the best post you have read here was (if any). However, as much as I appreciate kind words I’m only changing the theme on my blog, not jogging across Alaska in mating season dressed as a bear and carrying a box of salmon fillets, so best wishes and stuff really aren’t necessary.