Ten Reasons To Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Many people think that the comfort zone is made up of all those pleasant situations that surround us and that bring pleasure to life. The truth is, it’s not like that. The comfort zone is made up of all the situations, good and bad, to which we are used and that describe our routine. This routine prevents us from questioning, thinking, making decisions.
That’s the only comfort we’re looking for: that of moving by inertia. The comfort zone is like this bubble in which we take shelter so that everything stays the same. Even though we complain and believe that it is unbearable, we continue to do so out of fear, and this will easily become a habit.
The price is too high. Not leaving the comfort zone is practically giving up life, growth. We go on there, vegetating, as the years pass and our lives become more and more impoverished. In this article, we have ten good reasons for you to do something important for yourself: get out of your comfort zone.
1. You will discover potentialities you didn’t know about
It’s not a self-help slogan phrase. In fact, it ‘s amazing what we’ve come to discover about ourselves when we dared to do something out of the ordinary, when we decided to go after some goal we thought we wouldn’t be able to achieve. Every human being has many abilities and skills that lie dormant, waiting for the right time to manifest.
In routine the law of least effort is imposed, because we need it that way. Only exceptional situations demand the best of ourselves, and that’s when we discovered that we can do much more than we thought we could.
2. You will be able to be more flexible
When you install a single point of view without realizing it, you miss out on many angles of reality, perhaps more useful or interesting. Leaving your comfort zone allows you to approach new ways of looking and seeing your life.
This translates into greater flexibility in your appreciations and your way of living. In other words: you will become more adaptable, and greater adaptability translates into more ability to solve any difficult situation.
3. You will gain greater confidence in what you are
When you discover that the only thing left is to make the decision and that, in fact, you are capable of doing much more than you believed in, it immediately increases the confidence you have in yourself, and so you will begin to realize all that , at first, was afraid.
Insecurity feeds precisely on not trying. If you stop thinking so much and act, sooner or later you will realize that you can actually go far beyond what you imagined and you will feel more appreciation for who you really are.
4. It will eliminate many fears
The biggest fears are born of indecision and inertia. Fear creates its own vicious circle: as you are afraid, then you won’t try and stay where you are. As you don’t try, fear sets in and grows.
Most of the time, not to say all cases, the mere act of taking action dissipates fear. Generally speaking, the fear fades as you go along. The only difficult thing is to get started: if you act, you will find that many of these fears will disappear.
5. You will feel that your life is more exciting
Daring is something that brings a sense of adventure and challenge to your life. Routines lead to a very flat sensibility, where everything is predictable and thus often boring. Change messes up the emotional world, bringing very pleasant sensations such as the ability to be surprised, curiosity and the desire to discover.
6. It will increase your creativity and intelligence
Even great geniuses have their intelligence stagnant when no permanent stimulus is offered. Intelligence is like a muscle that needs to be exercised to work well. Routine only requires minimal use of your intellectual abilities.
The same is true with creativity. Only new situations provoke new answers and new solutions. Leaving your comfort zone is giving your creativity and intelligence time to manifest.
7. Will increase your will to live
When life ceases to be an eternal repetition of the same, it becomes much more interesting and worth living. If you feel happier about yourself and little by little discover that you are capable of doing much more than you thought, you will surely increase your appreciation for your life.
8. Will develop a better way of relating to others
In order to have good relationships with others, we must first have a good relationship with ourselves. If you are not comfortable with who you are, with what you do, you will hardly be able to appreciate the good things of the people around you.
Leaving your comfort zone, discovering yourself, overcoming fears and feeling happier for living is something that will help to improve your relationship with others. You will notice that conflicts will lessen and that you will have a greater ability to see the good in people.
9. You will experience the here and now more intensely
Experiencing the here and now is a form of fulfillment. When efforts, attention and enthusiasm are focused on the current moment, it is because that moment is a time for personal fulfillment. Leaving the comfort zone leaves you no room for anything other than attending to the present. You will need all your attention and all your efforts to overcome this new situation that lies before you.
10. Will become more independent
As you add confidence to your own possibilities, you will feel that you will need others in a different way. Others are a wonderful complement to your being, not your crutches or refuges. Being independent, sometimes, strengthens and gives you more confidence in who you are, makes you feel more strongly the value of freedom.
Images courtesy of Anne Soline, Art Graphik and Kim Ji-Hyuck.
