Just once this week I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and see what happens. At first scary I bet, but afterwards exhilaration! Following this advice is hard and scary but more often than not it is rewarding!
As humans, we are wired to seek comfort, and as a result much of daily life is focused around familiar patterns and habits. When something threatens to break those habits, we feel uncomfortable and nervous. These negative feelings are easily avoided by continuing to live life the same way, rejecting change. When presented with the opportunity to enter unfamiliar territory, we often cling to what we know and resist change.
As adults, whether we realize it or not, we create an invisible bubble around ourselves called the comfort zone. We all do it. Your comfort zone includes all your activities and preferences, the lifestyle you have created for yourself. It is also linked to your self-concept, what you believe are your strengths and weaknesses, your talents and lacks, your abilities and limitations.
We are all creatures of habit, and we all love order and stability in our lives. We all have the need to make our lives as predictable as possible, and create a sense of regularity, structure, and smooth functioning. We do not like to experience chaos in our lives, nor do we enjoy taking on extreme challenges that threaten our sense of calm and over-stress us. Our personal bubble, our comfort zone takes care of all that, by playing a selective, organizing and protective role.
In order to satisfy the above-mentioned needs, we include in our personal bubble our professional or career choices, our hobbies, the kind of friends or people we like to hang out with, our leisure activities, even such mundane things as the kinds of products we buy, or the kinds of meals we prefer.
Soon enough, though, order, stability, regularity, predictability, and structure turn into routine, sameness, rigidity and under-stimulation. The very bubble that we ourselves constructed begins to choke us, but often we don't realize the reason why we feel so stifled in our lives. This is when our comfort zone is no longer working for us. This is when we need to step out of it and create new experiences for ourselves.
So, if you are feeling stuck, stifled, bored, restless and can't figure out what's the matter with you, it's quite possible that you feel the need for change and more challenge and variety in your life and you need to step out of your comfort zone.
To create this sense of change and variety without threatening to disturb your other needs of stability, order, etc., at least in the beginning, you don't have to take any BIG steps that might intimidate you.
For example, say you faithfully take the same train every morning; eat the same breakfast; run the same amount of miles; use the same piece of exercise equipment or get up the same time every day-change it up. Examine your habits and you will see that there are things that you always do the same way. Do you always shop at the same grocery store? Do you always buy the same brand of coffee? Do you always make the same dinner on Monday night?
Just one time change it. I’m sure you are saying “yes, but”!! You have to override this feeling in order to step out of your comfort zone. Overriding this feeling will help you create variety in your life-it will help you to feel more alive!! A good way to encourage yourself to step out of your comfort zone, is to tell yourself that you will do this different thing just for today, just to see how it feels, and then, if you don't like it, you can go back to your comfortable routine. That way you can appease that part of you that is resistant to and afraid of change.
Change your haircut; think of a hobby you’ve been too afraid to take on; listen to a different radio station; buy a really special body soap; try a new color for an outfit; rearrange your furniture; buy a brightly colored pillow for your sofa; or take a different route to work.
Once you begin to focus on change and experimentation, you will begin to make more changes and become more daring to tackle other areas of your life that have become stale and dull. Once you make the conscious effort to step out of your comfort zone, you will experience more happiness, you will feel proud of yourself and you can feel excited about your life again!!!
I’d love to hear how you plan on stepping out of your comfort zone! Email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !
by Jennifer Minihan Local Mom and Body Builder, Dip.C.N. HC AADP
