Daily dose of struggling is good sign of growing, too much will crush you, too little is comfortable, pick the right dose for sustainable growth.

Too much

In September 2017, a category 5 hurricane descended upon Puerto Rico🌪️.
Magaly Rodriguez lived with her two daughter,
the house is flooded with water and hurricane swipe up roof,
she experience a phenomenon known as the amygdala hijack,
extreme stress leave her paralyzed and powerless when her daughter needed her support the most.

Propping an atomic bomb with a screwdriver,
one mistake, blue flash of light, expose to radiation DNA beyond repair,
you're DEAD. (True story!) A job only suitable for Deadpool?

Too comfortable

In Europe, when the early Romans emerged as challengers,
they exhibited characteristics typical of a dynamic civilization: a strong martial ethos,
relatively underdeveloped cultural sophistication, and smooth internal class mobility.
However, as they began to settle extensively in major cities and gradually evolved into Romans
who reveled in luxurious activities and the pleasures of life,
Rome transitioned from a dynamic to a static civilization.
At this point, the semi-nomadic Germanic tribes from the north,
representing a less advanced civilization, began to rise.
These tribes lived a long-standing lifestyle of hunting and pastoralism,
with the entire population trained for war,
embodying the same dynamic civilization traits that Rome once had.
They engaged in a prolonged civilizational standoff with the now static Roman Empire.
After centuries of attrition,
they finally seized the opportunity when the Roman Empire collapsed internally and conquered it decisively.

"Evil doesn't sleep. It waits.
And in the moment of our complacency,
it BLINDS us." The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Formula of sustainable growth

Here are examples for 3 contexts:

Training Muscle:

• Comfortable (Low Stress): Lifting very light weights with no challenge—muscles don’t grow due to lack of stimulus.

• Medium (Optimal Stress): Lifting weights that are challenging but manageable, leading to muscle growth through progressive overload.

• Too Much (High Stress): Lifting excessively heavy weights, risking injury or burnout, which hinders progress.

Flow State:

• Comfortable (Low Stress): Doing a task that’s too easy, like doodling aimlessly—you’re bored and not fully engaged.

• Medium (Optimal Stress): Working on a challenging project that matches your skill level, leading to a flow state where you’re fully immersed.

• Too Much (High Stress): Tackling an overly difficult task, like solving advanced calculus without preparation, causing frustration and disengagement.

Yerkes-Dodson Law:

• Comfortable (Low Stress): Studying for an exam with no urgency—you might procrastinate and retain little.

• Medium (Optimal Stress): Preparing for an exam with a deadline that motivates focus, leading to peak performance and retention.

• Too Much (High Stress): Cramming for an exam with extreme anxiety, causing mental overload and poor recall during the test.