Life is hard for two reasons: leaving your comfort zone or staying in it.
Well, what is it? Indeed there is nothing wrong with being comfortable, and we all know the term, but being stuck in a comfort zone is an entirely different story.
A comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to you, where you are at ease and (think you are) in control of your environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady, almost average level of performance is possible.
Why are we so chill about being in a comfort zone; why do we often slide into one without even knowing it? We are creatures of habit, and we like the familiar. The opposite of that would mean that we dislike the unknown.
We do not want to experience pain.
If you want to lose weight, you have to face the pain of depriving yourself of your favourite foods. If you’re going to leave a relationship, you have to face the reality of being alone. If you want to start a new business, you have to face the possibility that it may not succeed. Let’s face it; we like a safe and familiar place, free from the pain that the world brings to our doorstep every day. Even simply escaping pain isn’t enough for us. We insist that the pain be replaced with pleasures: like the word says, “comfort food” or alcohol or binge-watching on Netflix.
The primary problem is this: If you can’t tolerate pain, you can’t be fully alive.
Without risks, you will not be able to discover your true self. We will always experience fear and doubt, but overcoming those feelings sets us apart from robots. When you can connect to your true self, you open doors to change, growth, progress, love, and understanding, which can’t be found inside your comfort zone.
So how does one get out of that comfortable-comfort-zone ? What do I need to do?
- Break the routine.
- This one can be as simple as you make it. Have something else for breakfast, drive a different route to work, cook something unusual for dinner, even watch a documentary if soapies are your thing. These are just small breaks in your routine, and these small steps eventually become bigger leaps. Keep going because you just started, and no matter how tiny the steps are, just be sure never to stop taking them.
- Learn something new.
- Ok, this one requires slightly more input. But it doesn’t have to be as challenging as it sounds. Learn how to make a pie if all you know is baking cakes. Try a new Zumba workout if yoga is your usual go-to. Start something entirely new, like learning to play an instrument, pottery or sewing. Starting a new hobby is helping sever all ties with your comfort zone, and you don’t even realise it’s happening.
- Start to save.
- Don’t we get so used to living from paycheck to paycheck and complaining about never going on a decent holiday? Still, out of sheer habit, we don’t cut down on expensive luxury food items or beauty treatments we don’t even realise we may not need at all. I am not implying you compromise your new diet or neglect your night-time routine; I am saying, think more wisely about how you spend money, and start saving a small amount every month and here comes the real challenge: work on exercising self-control not to dig into that money on black Friday, but give yourself one year, 365 days, and when you make it, buy that gorgeous coffee maker you have wanted for the last five years. You could have owned it already had you simply taken a small step outside of your comfort zone.
