I'm a big believer in pushing yourself outside your comfort zone and stretching yourself artistically, but not at the expense of foolishness.
I like loud electric guitars because I like how you can just lose your entire being in the sound. But I can't find myself in a situation where our band Swans is doing typical chord progressions - it just seems cliché to me. Even changing chords sounds like a cliché sometimes, though it happens occasionally in our music. But you find ways to push yourself into the sound through repetition. It doesn't stay the same. It morphs constantly.
When you start a collection, you have to push yourself to limits that may make you uncomfortable.
When you do hit the gym, you should push yourself. This is what makes fitness phenomena so interesting.
You take yourself to a place where you've got absolutely nothing left and then you find out you have to push yourself one more step. That's a tough place to be in.