No Growth in The Comfort Zone, No Comfort in The Growth Zone.

Everyone has come across an inspirational quote at some stage in their life, something that encourages you to do something out of the ordinary, something strange — something you wouldn't normally do. But getting out of your routine takes a lot of work. It’s very hard to break a habit, just ask a chronic smoker who is desperate to kick the smoking addiction time and time again only to find themselves back on them within a few days, puffing away to their lungs content.

I like to think of comfort zones like our very own prisons. A prison where our potential is contained within the four walls. Either you transcend your comfort zone and reach the higher planes of life, or stay transfixed within your comfort zone and remain stagnant. But it's warm, nice and comfortable? Exactly, it wouldn't be your comfort zone if it wasn't. Humans are creatures of habit, we resist change and anything that breaks us away from our daily routine and structures. But change is imperative for growth. It’s important to push the boundaries of your comfort zone in order to learn and grow.

For once a quote actually began to resonate with me. “No growth in the comfort zone, no comfort in the growth zone” I started to think about it. It lodged itself in my head and would not leave, just like a big spot that appears on your forehead and seems to grow bigger despite all the creams and lotions you apply to it. I decided to do something about it and no I’m not talking about the spot. Thankfully, I outgrew them in my latter teenage years. I began to make incremental steps gravitating outside of my comfort zone. I found myself learning new things and developing better as a person. It felt good.

The point of stepping out of your comfort zone is to embrace new experiences. This is something new for me like writing this article. Sure, I’ve written before, college essays that tend to be mundane and restrictive of all things creative, but I am enjoying this new challenge and then the anxiety that comes with it. Will anybody read it? Will people think it's blasé? Un-creative and lacking in depth? I don't know and I don’t care either way because I have just done something that I hadn't done before, thus leaving my comfort zone and venturing into new unknown territory.

I could be the next Leo Tolstoy, well the probability offers a high chance that I won't; but there's only one way to find out, and that's by doing because by doing you start to learn, and when you start to learn you start to grow. Leave that safe space that is known as your comfort zone and start doing things that scare you or make you uneasy because the chances are after you’ve done them you’ll start feeling good about yourself. So next time you have a presentation in college or work, in front of your peers, or decide to do a pilates class for the first time, or even the dreaded thought of joining a gym for the first time, relish the experience. Start feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable. And as mother always says “If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve got.”