Ways to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
Comfort zone” is an expression that, at first glance, has a positive connotation. When we are comfortable, we feel good and happy, right? But actually, this term refers to a state of extreme inertia.
People stay in this limited space of comfort for a variety of reasons and they are rarely positive, although sometimes they seem to be. They may not go through exhausting experiences, but they also don’t have enriching experiences. However, it is difficult to have this perception when you are used to the monotonous routine.
Challenges serve to get us out of this paralyzing, low-yield state. They can be strenuous due to the effort made to overcome them. They can also force a self-examination, which will reveal truths you are unlikely to be ready to see. Accepting and facing challenges head-on, however, is always rewarding.
Why Do We Feel Good in Our Comfort Zone?
Who wouldn’t feel good in a comfortable, safe, and predictable position, right?
There is no need to make monumental efforts to get out of bed in the morning, make decisions, and interact with people. Everything is beautiful and pleasant, as it does not require contact with stressful situations and negative feelings. So most of the time, we feel good and protected.
But there comes a time when inertia starts to get in the way.
Life, yours and mine and everyone else’s, is fickle. Refusing to keep up with your transformations and the frenetic pace is the same as refusing to learn new skills, meet interesting people, grow professionally, laugh at yourself and improve the weak points of your personality.
Think about it: if the purpose of life was just to stay in a comfortable position, refusing to accept new challenges, we would be contemplative beings. We would spend our days as observers and live the same experiences over and over again.
And what’s the fun in that?
While the comfort zone is indeed quite comfortable, it is not a good place to stay for long.
How to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone?
Leaving your comfort zone is not just about looking for new activities. It is, above all, a confrontation of your fears. Ironically, insecurities and fears only stop causing emotional discomfort when they are faced head-on.
For example, an extremely shy person who cannot speak in public or relax in social movements should just try to do this to stop fearing social interactions. To face these fears, however, she will need a lot of courage and determination not to revert to old habits.
It’s not a very pleasant process, but that’s the point! Nobody likes to suffer from tribulations, although they are great teachers.
Once overcome, you will be able to understand the importance of these periods of adversity for your personal growth. You will even be proud of yourself for leaving fears, difficulties, and uncertainties behind.
Even if stepping out of your comfort zone and accepting new challenges are not pleasant experiences at first, they will only do you good!
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Do therapy
Often, leaving the comfort zone involves working on feelings, beliefs, and fears that affect the psychological. When engaging in unique activities and experiences, your sense of “I” can get confused. You may wonder what you are capable of or not.
To alleviate your doubts, you can count on the help of a psychologist. Therapy is the ideal tool for making behavioral changes and healthily modifying thought patterns.
This does not mean that these transformations will be done smoothly. In therapy, people revisit painful memories, confront negative self-perceptions, and explore toxic relationships. This direct encounter with emotional upsets causes a variety of unpleasant emotions.
However, these processes are necessary to change your life and consolidate healthy thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. As a result, you will be able to leave your comfort zone.
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Look for new experiences
This is the first step to having a happier, more colorful, and lighter life.
What experiences have you always wanted to live? Which ones have you always feared for fear of other people’s judgments? Combine the useful with the pleasant and make a list with answers to both questions.
Then challenge yourself to do the easiest wishes first. For example, learning a language, visiting a specific place in your city, adopting a pet, and going on a blind date. This is a great way to get the hang of it and move on to facing fears without feeling unreasonably stressed.
Keep in mind that no matter how nervous you may be when facing a new challenge, experiencing it is essential for your personal growth.
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Make a different effort every day
You should make an effort daily not to remain in an overly comfortable position for too long. Likely, one, two, three, or even 100 attempts are not enough for you to achieve the desired results.
Your mindset must be to persist, not to stop when you reach a certain point along the way or when you encounter an obstacle that is more complicated than the others. In this case, it is worth rethinking the way you have been doing things to find opportunities for improvement.
Over time, the “I will get better every day” posture will become automatic, requiring no extra effort from your brain and body.
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Accept your vulnerabilities
You don’t have to ignore your limitations to get out of your comfort zone. Although the main objective is to live different experiences through facing fears, you must be aware of your vulnerabilities. Otherwise, you might get frustrated trying to do more than you can at the moment.
Accept that you are imperfect, just like everyone else. Your “weaknesses”, although they have that name, do not make you weak. When you let go of the illusion of perfectionism, you understand that your faults, failures, and fears are part of you and there is no need to feel ashamed about it.
This understanding is necessary because you will certainly make some mistakes along your path to lead a less comfortable life. So, you must understand that making mistakes is not the end of the world. It’s just another step along the way.
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Get to know yourself
Self-knowledge is another indispensable element in this process. If you don’t know yourself, how do you know what’s good for you? How do you recognize your limits and your skills? How do you know which habits make up your ideal routine?
This knowledge is necessary for you to create the way of life that best suits your personality. The reason for your unhappiness may lie in an inadequate perspective of who you are, or in your insistence on customs that do you no good.
Right now, you may be stuck in your comfort zone for not knowing that you have the potential or not recognizing that you deserve to have the life of your dreams. However, how will you discover that you are brave and talented if you never try new things? Self-knowledge also encourages the search for new experiences.
