Your comfort zone wants to keep you safe, warm and, well, comfy. And our brains are very firmly programmed to want to stay there. Not surprising really when your comfort zone’s original purpose was to keep you from going off and getting eaten by a sabre toothed tiger, or freezing to death in the wilderness.
So your comfort zone, doing its level best to keep you safe from prehistoric cats that no longer exist, tells you little stories to keep you there…
“Oh that sounds like a great idea, but that’s not really your sort of thing is it”
“Hmmm, that sounds hard, what if you’re no good?”
“At your age? What if you break something?”
But what your comfort zone neglects to tell you is that if you never leave it, things will pretty much stay as they are. Those little voices convince you that you’re much better off wrapped up in your snuggly comfort zone blanket, rather than doing something different or out of the ordinary.
The only problem with that is most people I know, myself included, aren’t 100% content. It’s not that life is bad, things are going ok, or even pretty good, but there’s still that niggling feeling in the back of your mind that things could be just a little more exciting.
And the danger in believing those little lies is that you’ll just keep coasting along and nothing will ever change. Life won’t get miraculously more exciting all by itself.
How to get out of your comfort zone in a non-terrifying way
It’s so important to remember that you don’t have to dive head first out of your comfort zone into doing something terrifying, despite what Instagram may imply with all of those people happily jumping off cliffs and out of planes.
The great news is that it just has to be something unexpected or new. Something where you don’t know what the exact outcome will be, like booking into a new class, learning a new skill or meeting some new people. More like dipping your toes in rather than a huge leap out.
And the amazing thing is that each time you do something new, your comfort zone expands. What was a little uncomfortable at the start, becomes actually pretty comfy. So the next time you can do something that pushes you a little bit further. Those tiny steps can add up to big changes fairly rapidly. And this process helps you get better at taking risks, makes you more creative and can even make your brain sharper! So that cookery lesson or poetry class actually makes you a better human.
Let us help you find your comfort zone sweet spot
Here at Go-do.it, we’re experts at helping you become a doer. Putting you in touch with the people that can help you make things happen. Join us, and we’ll help you show your comfort zone where to stick it. Plus we’ll be with you every step of the way, no matter how seemingly small those steps may be.
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