I am sure you heard the phrase: ‘Get out of your comfort zone’. But what exactly is the comfort zone and how it impacts your life? The Comfort zone will deprive you of personal development and from getting to know yourself. The Comfort zone can be very unhealthy to your potential and to your happiness.
What is ‘comfort zone’?
A comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and (perceive they are) in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible.
Bardwick defines the term as “a behavioral state where a person operates in an anxiety-neutral position.” However Brown describes comfort zone as “Where our uncertainty, scarcity, and vulnerability are minimized—where we believe we’ll have access to enough love, food, talent, time, admiration. Where we feel we have some control.”
Why comfort zone kills your potential?
Although, if you’re not where you want to be in your life, it’s worth looking at your comfort zone. It is very likely that you might be stuck inside of your own comfort zone.
It’s easy to do what you’re used to doing and staying within the confines of least resistance, but if you want to make progress in your life, you need to break free from what holds you back. Below are 6 reasons why comfort zone might be unhealthy to your personal development:
By not taking risks, you’ll never really discover your true self.
Living in your comfort zone is all about doing what is safe and easy: you know the outcome. If you’re terrified to take some risks and do something that scares you or something that you don’t feel comfortable with doing, there is a possibility that you will never truly understand who you really are.
Because we find out a lot about ourselves when we are doing things that are out of our comfort zone. We discover what makes us angry, and begin to see that part of ourselves deep inside, our true self, the one that holds the wisdom and power most of us are unaware of. When you can connect to your true self, you open doors to change, growth, progress, love, and understanding that cannot be found inside your comfort zone.
It’s almost impossible to grow and learn when you are stuck inside your comfort zone.
You learn more about yourself taking the road less traveled. You see and experience things you may never have if you’d stayed with what was comfortable.
With knowledge and growth comes an increased ability to do things in your life you never dreamed possible. All you have to do is start hacking.
If you stay in your comfort zone when faced with difficulties, you end up postponing your life goals.
Your life goals are important. When difficulties come up—and they will—you need to be brave enough to keep moving forward. It’s really easy to just jump back into your routine, but postponing your goals now will make them more difficult to achieve later on. Find the courage to push through the hard things and you’ll be glad you did later on.
You lose a part of yourself, when life becomes routine.
Routine is a part of your comfort zone. It may be sustaining you for now, but meanwhile, you’re losing your ability to open up your true self and share your gifts with the world. When you lose that, you lose the ability to create anything meaningful for your life.
By following the crowd, you are getting lost.
Life is so much more fulfilling when you are constantly learning, growing, connecting, and making impressions in the Universe by releasing your greatness to the world. When you are living within your comfort zone, all of that disappears. You become lost in the crowd, headed in one direction, not knowing where you are going.
The unknown is where dreams are made.
The unknown is a magical place where dreams come true and life happens. Your comfort zone is a predictable place where dreams die and life stalls. It’s pretty simple when you think about it. Stay within your comfort zone and keep hoping, wishing, and dreaming of a better life, or take a step into the unknown and create your own version of how you want your life to look.
https://www.alustforlife.com/voice/personal-stories/why-bother-stepping-outside-of-your-comfort-zone
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ie/blog/in-flux/201512/5-benefits-stepping-outside-your-comfort-zone