benefits and drawbacks of comfort

I've been thinking a lot lately about comfort and it occurred to me that it can be both a blessing and curse. Think about the Dead Sea as an example, and yes I know it is a rather odd example but just go with me on this one. The salinity of the Dead Sea is ten times higher than that of the world's oceans, and because of this unusually high salt content there are some interesting facts. Due to the highly saturated nature of the water, the density is high enough that people literally float in the water with no effort at all (like a cork). Also, the high concentration of minerals makes the water particularly healthy for your skin; it's like a gigantic natural aromatherapy bath. Finally, the Dead Sea is the lowest land elevation on earth and this means that the air is 5% more oxygen-rich. Sounds like a very comfortable place to be, floating on the water, breathing easy, and soaking some minerals into your skin.

Only, now stop and think about what happens when it's time to leave. The higher density of the water makes it difficult to swim; your buoyancy combined with the "thick" water means slow progress. The high salt and mineral content means you cannot drink the water, it would be deadly if ingested (hence the lack of fish in the sea). Once you finally get out of the water, if you couldn't rinse yourself off, the minerals would begin to crystallize on your skin, wick away moisture as it did so, and possible clog the pores causing more harm than it did good. If you spent a long time in the area of the Dead Sea your body would become acclimated to the more oxygenated air, which means upon leaving you would tire more quickly at higher elevations until you reacclimate.

Being comfortable isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless it prevents us from experiencing new things. Having places of comfort gives us an oasis, a place of rejuvenation where we can replenish our health mentally, physically, and spiritually. However, spending too much time in our oasis can cause us to resist changes because of the temporary discomfort that we know it will bring. What if this new place we visit is not as comfortable as what we are used to? What if we cannot do the same things there as we can here? What if (gasp) we actually like the new experiences, then what will happen to our old place of comfort?

Maybe it's just me... I don't fear change, I thrive on new challenges and experiences. For how can you truly know yourself unless you have experienced different people, places, activities, and scenarios that stretch the boundaries of who you are?