Why comfort is the enemy of calling.
What an unlikely Hobbit teaches us about risk, courage & becoming who we’re meant to be.
January 1st marks the beginning of a new year. For some, it represents hope and expectation. For others, it’s a signal that the holiday pause is over and the familiar grind is about to resume.
Wake up. Go to work. Come home. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.
If you think about it, there’s a beautiful rhythm to it all. The predictability of routine. The comfort of knowing how your day will unfold. We work to earn money, to build safe homes, to care for our families, to have a place to rest our weary heads at night. And if we’re honest, most of us would agree that safety, certainty, and comfort rank pretty high on our list of what makes a good life.
But what if comfort isn’t neutral? What if, over time, comfort quietly persuades us to stay small? What if it’s the very thing keeping us from stepping into our potential? What if comfort is the enemy of calling?
Many of us live with a quiet tension between the life we’ve built and the life we sense is still waiting.
A Story About Comfort
J.R.R. Tolkien explored this idea brilliantly in The Hobbit, through one of literature’s most unassuming heroes: Bilbo Baggins. The story famously begins not with danger or drama, but with comfort: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit… and that means comfort.”
Bilbo lived in a cozy hobbit-hole, came from a respectable family, and belonged to a community that valued certainty above all else. Hobbits were well known for being homebodies, quiet, well-fed, little folk resolutely uninterested in adventure. As Bilbo himself put it: “We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”
Simply put, Hobbits built their entire culture around avoiding disruption. And if we’re honest, so have we.
We’re All Hobbits
Whether you’re leading a company, building a career, raising a family, or quietly nursing an idea you haven’t acted on yet, we’re all Hobbits in our own way. We don’t love change. We don’t seek after disruption. We prefer warm beds and familiar routines to uncertainty and risk.
And yet, we’re irresistibly drawn to stories of transformation. We love the tales of underdogs who risk everything, face impossible odds, and emerge changed. The founder who starts in her basement and ends up on the cover of Fast Company. The leader who leaves security to build something meaningful that changes the world. The ordinary person who becomes extraordinary. These stories captivate us because they speak to something deep inside: a longing to become more than we currently are.
So why do so few people choose that path?
Why Comfort Keeps Us Stuck
There’s an old Irish adage: Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. It’s painfully true. How many people do you know who stay in toxic jobs for years? Who talk about starting a business but never do? Who sense a deeper pull, but silence it with logic, fear, or timing?
Comfort is persuasive. “Good enough” feels safer than “unknown.” And unless something becomes unbearable, most of us won’t move. Tolkien understood this. And through Bilbo’s journey, he shows us three truths about calling.
1. Calling Often Arrives as an Interruption
If you’ve read or seen The Hobbit, you’ll remember the moment clearly. Bilbo has just finished cooking himself a warm dinner. As he sits down to eat, there’s a knock at the door. Annoyed, unprepared, and hoping it will simply go away, he hesitates. But the knock comes again.
That’s how calling often works. It rarely arrives when life is calm or convenient. It interrupts routines. It disrupts plans. It shows up as a problem you can’t unsee, an injustice that won’t let you rest, an idea that won’t leave you alone. The question is never when the knock will come. The question is, will you open the door?
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
(Revelation 3:20, ESV)
2. Calling Takes You Beyond Your Borders
Before that knock, Bilbo had never ventured beyond the Shire. His world was defined by invisible boundaries, lines of comfort that protected him from fear and uncertainty. Most of us have drawn those same lines. We approach them cautiously. We test them. And when anxiety spikes, when the “what ifs” grow really loud, we retreat back to safety.
When Bilbo opened the door, a group of strangers marched into his home with an impossible request. Join us. Leave everything you know. You may not return. His responses mirror our own: ‘You must be mistaken. I’m not qualified. I’ve never done this before. You have the wrong person.’ These aren’t excuses. They’re human.
History, and leadership, is full of stories like this. Ordinary people confronted with extraordinary calls, pushing back with fear and self-doubt. What matters isn’t the fear, it’s whether we let fear have the final word.
3. Calling Requires a Leap of Faith
Bilbo stands in his home holding a contract that promises treasure, and danger. The room spins. The weight of the decision overwhelms him. Eventually, he collapses. By morning, the house is quiet. The opportunity seems gone. And yet something feels wrong.
Have you ever said “no” to an opportunity and felt an overwhelming grief afterward? As if everything has stayed the same, except you? That’s what Bilbo felt. And in that moment, he does something brave. He grabs his walking stick and runs. “I’m going on an adventure,” he calls out as he leaves the Shire behind. There’s no guarantee it will work out. Only one certainty exists: he will be changed. And so will you.
From Comfort to Calling
There’s nothing wrong with a quiet, comfortable life. Safety and rest matter. Routine has its place. But there will come a moment, perhaps more than once, when something in the world tugs at your heart. An idea forms. A restlessness grows. A sense that you were meant for more refuses to be ignored. When that moment comes, you’ll face a choice.
Will you open the door?
Will you step beyond the line of comfort?
Will you take the leap of faith?
If you’ve been waiting for a sign to start the business, write the book, change direction, or step into a new role … this is it! Adventure is calling, don’t miss it.
What comfort might you be clinging to, and what could be waiting on the other side?
#TGIM
About the Author
Amanda Stassen is an entrepreneur, business and brand strategist, and writer exploring the human side of leadership, work, and purpose. Through her businesses, she helps leaders and organizations build with conviction and lead with clarity and courage.
Follow Amanda @buildwithbizu and connect with her on LinkedIn @amandastassen for insights & reflections on leadership, growth, and building what you believe in.
