Staying in Your Comfort Zone: The Real Risky Option
What would you do if the country you were raised becomes a nightmare? This is the question I made myself for a long time before coming to the United States. First, you may be wondering, what does a country need to become a nightmare? Certainly, this is a subjective question; for me, the negative aspects that characterize such country are: insecurity, blackouts, hyperinflation, lack of medicines, etc. This is the kind of crisis Venezuela has had for the last few years. My decision of coming to the U.S. or staying in Venezuela was a constant dispute between my fixed mindset and my growth mindset; many months ago, I was undecided whether it would be better for me (and my future) to stay in my comfort zone, or seek for new challenges and experiences. As a result, I ended up coming to America, where having a growth mindset was what made me take this decision.
As Carol Dweck argues in her book, “Mindset,” I agree with her idea that people can change their mindset. I also agree that the growth mindset is the key to personal learning; however, a fixed mindset is useful to understand the benefits of the growth mindset. I experienced both mindsets during my stay-or-leave decision, and, I can say that I needed the fixed mindset to see the bright side of the growth mindset. My experience may not be a clear example for what Dweck explains about mindsets, as some people might think; nevertheless, I believe that having a growth mindset is what guided me to leave for another country, with different language, people, experiences. This mindset is what made me challenge myself.
In her book, Dweck explains how two mindsets divide the way people think and face challenges and setbacks. On the one hand, the author presents the “fixed mindset,” which is the belief that “your qualities are carved in stone.” On the other hand, Dweck introduces the “growth mindset,” which “is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts.” In other words, fixed-mindset people believe that their abilities cannot be expanded; on the contrary, growth-mindset people believe that their abilities can be developed. Moreover, as the author states, “people with a growth mindset thrive when they’re stretching themselves [or challenging themselves].” At the same time, people with a fixed mindset thrive “when things are safely within their grasp.” Dweck explains the differences of both mindsets using her investigations as support.
The author settles her ideas of both mindsets in the base of her research, presenting results from studies made in schools, universities, etc. Among her research, Dweck has evaluated her theories watching “pre-med students through their first semester of chemistry.” According to the author, this is “one heck of a hard course,” where she could observe the two mindsets in the students. Fixed-mindset students “stayed interested only when they did well right away;” conversely, growth-mindset students “continued to show the same high level of interest even when they found the work challenging.” Basically, one group “thrive on the sure thing” and another group thrive on challenges.
Dweck argues that “mindsets are an important part of your personality, but you can change them.” Although a change of mindset “sounds easy,” it can be “also hard.” The author states that a change of mindset is “about seeing things in a new way,” arguing that people’s commitment when changing to a growth mindset “is to growth, and growth takes plenty of time, effort, and mutual support to achieve and maintain.”
Some time ago, I experienced both mindsets, and I acknowledge it. When I graduated from high school, my parents told me that I had two options for my future: they told me that I could stay in my home country and study there, or I could leave for the U.S. and study here. Sounds like a simple choice, doesn’t it? Well, it wasn’t for me, due to all the factors involved in such decision, and, to be honest, I was afraid of leaving my comfort zone and trying new things, including learning new abilities. This was the basic human resistance to change.
I first decided to stay in my comfort zone, and study there. Unlike the U.S., college education in Venezuela is free (or cheap), so I thought it would be a good option for me to stay and go to college there. However, once I was a regular college student, I started to witness all the deficiencies of the university I was in: there was “lack of professors,” insecurity (even inside classrooms), few resources (as computers, projectors, internet, etc.). Due to the absence of professors, most of my classes where online, and, let me tell you, having online classes is not easy in a country where the internet and the electricity system basically sucks. A normal person could ask “why didn’t you just transferred to another university?” Well, considering that almost all the universities in the country had the same problem, I did not have many options.
After almost 4 months studying there, the crisis in Venezuela got worse: 3-day blackouts started (which created problems in hospitals, supermarkets, etc.) and lack of gasoline started in the whole country. One day, I spent 5 hours waiting in a gas station to get gasoline for my car. At some point, I thought that I was wasting my time (and my future). All these recent problems, combined with the current problems of the country, is what made me decide to leave for the U.S.
I had to spent almost a year of my life experiencing all these problems in order to leave Venezuela. During this time, I started to realize that staying in my comfort zone was not beneficial for me, and that my resistance to change was actually putting my future in jeopardy.
During my realization that, indeed, I needed to look for new challenges in another country, I made a transition from the fixed mindset to the growth mindset. When I read Dweck’s book, I started to see some similarities between my perspective (in that moment of realization) and her idea of two mindsets.
When I decided to stay in my home country, it was a moment of staying in my comfort zone and keeping my current abilities without improving or learning new things. I thought that staying in Venezuela would be the safest thing for me; that I could “thrive on the sure thing” and that I was losing nothing. I was just as the fixed-mindset people who “look back and say, ‘I could have been…’” instead of the people who “look back and say, ‘I gave my all for the things I valued.’” I was afraid of failing at the new challenges that leaving for a new country represents, especially when the language is different.
However, during my process realizing that the best thing for me was to leave, I changed my fixed mindset for a growth mindset, thinking in a different way. Once I started to think with a growth mindset, my perspective changed; I started to see the benefits of leaving for the U.S. and I was open to new challenges and experiences. This mindset helped me learn new abilities and overcome negative things, including thoughts of missing my country or my family. As Dweck states, a person “can feel miserable” and do good at the same time. When I left, I did not feel very well; however, I knew I was doing the right thing for me.
Although some people could think that my experience is not as clear example of Dweck’s mindsets as the stories of Michael Jordan, Charles Darwin and Jackson Pollock, I do think that both the fixed and the growth mindset were present. On the one hand, the fixed mindset made me doubt about my potential and abilities, staying in my comfort zone; on the other hand, the growth mindset taught me to be open minded and use challenges to learn and develop new skills.
After my change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, I agree with Dweck’s idea that people can change their mindsets. Even though a change “sounds easy,” I think it is more complicated, as the “mindsets frame the running account that’s taking place in people’s heads. They guide the whole interpretation process.” Despite its difficulty, Dweck argues that such change is possible, as “just by knowing about the two mindsets, you can start thinking and reacting in new ways.”
I also agree with Dweck that people must have a growth mindset to develop their abilities. Although the author implies in the book that the fixed mindset is a really bad perspective, I think it is useful to understand the real benefits and differences of having a growth mindset. As I felt in my experience, I needed the fixed mindset to see the opportunities I was not taking advantage of, and then give a real value to such opportunities in the growth mindset. After all, there is no “good” without “bad,” no “yin” without “yang.”
If I hadn’t changed my mindset, the opportunity of leaving Venezuela and looking for a better future would have been wasted. Certainly, we face important decisions everyday, and we lose opportunities because we do the safest thing, believing that staying in our comfort zone is always the best option. However, after what I experienced, I think the best option is to challenge yourself; winner or loser, you never know until you try.
