Do you ever think about all that you could accomplish if there was nothing holding you back? According to Sebastian Junger, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Storm, War, Tribe, and his new book Freedom, there's at least one simple truth about freedom: The more discomfort you accept in your life, the more options you have.

"If you have to take a shower every day, you will never be able to spend the night in the woods, right?" Junger says. "I mean, that's just a voluntary loss of freedom. If you refuse to be hot or cold or hungry or tired or what have you, you really have to live your life in the sort of confines of a modern American lifestyle that is very free in some ways, but also creates a kind of dependency in almost everyone that is the opposite of freedom."

On this episode of the Spartan UP! podcast, listen as Spartan CEO Joe De Sena and Junger discuss what it truly means to be free.

Related: This Is How to Overcome Your Comfort Crisis

As an award-winning journalist, Junger has been a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and a special correspondent with ABC News. He has received both a National Magazine Award and a Peabody Award. Junger is a documentary filmmaker whose debut film Restrepo, a feature-length documentary (co-directed with Tim Hetherington), was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

Listen to the podcast in its entirety below.

Connect With the Spartan Up! Podcast for More Great Discussions Below!

Spartan Up! YouTube Channel Spartan Up! Spotify Podcast Spartan Up! Apple Podcast

Amp up your fitness and wellness routine NOW. Click here to find a Spartan race close to you!