I like to think of a comfort zone as a bit like a bunker surrounded by barbed wire. Keeps you really safe, you know. It doesn’t take a giant leap of imagination to step outside of the frame of reference and look at it from another angle. It’s amazing how when you change your view that looking out through barbed wire is akin to looking out of a prison – one that you’ve locked yourself in. It’s only when you challenge yourself to look up from your foxhole and see the amazing things that await you that you realise that the comfort zone that you’ve built is actually doing its best to keep you penned in. The good news is that once you start making it out of these comfort zones you realise that all your dreams were on the outside of it and that shutting yourself out from them in order to protect yourself ultimately leads to unfulfilled dreams and failure and to unhappiness.
I now like to think of comfort zones in a different way – sort of high hills that you know once you’ve reached the summit, there’s an amazing view and in the distance there’s another beautiful peak ready for your assent. The longer you stay in your comfort zone the more likely you are to be unhappy, in a rut, and feel like you’re a victim to circumstances.
Everyone has circumstances; it’s the way you deal with them that’s important. When you make excuses to yourself and you make yourself believe them because it’s easier than trying something new, isn’t that really sad? Remember, you don’t actually HAVE to do anything, you always make a choice as to whether it’s easy or difficult and when you say things like “I don’t have time”- we all have the same amount of hours in a day – it’s just an excuse. Don’t always do as expected -that’s what robots do – push yourself to achieve, be proud of yourself and have the courage to take a risk – you’ll be amazed at the satisfaction you’ll get, even if it doesn’t quite turn out as planned.
