The comfort zone is a wonderful place. It makes me think of happy visits to my grandma’s house or sitting curled up in a blanket. Many say that leaving our comfort zone is the only way to grow. I thought that meant I had to live outside my comfort zone—all the time.
Wrong.
Visiting your comfort zone is important.
Leaving your comfort zone and returning to it are part of the growth cycle. Both serve an important purpose to grow stronger mentally and emotionally.
Let’s revisit the topic and see—why?
Leaving your comfort zone and returning to it are part of the growth cycle. Click To Tweet
LEAVING THE COMFORT ZONE
Taking an intentional trip outside of your comfort zone can be fun and exciting. It creates an internal rush of adrenaline and dopamine. Leaving your comfort zone helps you become more productive and creative too. The more you go through the growth cycle, the more fun it can become. Still, there must be a measure of discomfort, or you haven’t left your comfort zone.
We do this by leaving what is familiar to us.
When we do something new it makes us uncomfortable. There are unknowns which cause anxiety. For some, it might be full-blown fear. Either way, grabbing ahold of bravery before you step out will create a comfort cushion within you.
Every time you take a trip outside of your comfort zone you have the opportunity to grow. This is what helps expand or enlarge your comfort zone. A larger comfort zone is your evidence of growth and prepares you for unexpected events. It can even aid in building resilience in you.
Leaving your comfort zone can seem simple or drastic.
Leaving your comfort zone can seem simple or drastic. Click To Tweet
WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE
- Taking a different way to work or school.
- Shopping at a different store.
- Eating at a new restaurant.
- Striking up a conversation with a stranger.
- Asking for help.
- Getting a new haircut.
- Ordering something other than the usual when you go out.
- Opening up to a trusted friend.
- Going on a job interview.
- Take a class.
- Start a new hobby.
- Do a Facebook Live.
- Public speaking.
These are just a few ideas for you. But after you take that trip outside your comfort zone, you need to revisit or return to your comfort zone.
The revisiting of the comfort zone is imperative to your growth.
The revisiting of the comfort zone is imperative to your growth. Click To Tweet
REVISITING THE COMFORT ZONE
Comfort isn’t a dirty word and comfort zones aren’t synonymous with being lazy.
The dictionary defines comfort as:
- to give strength and hope to
- to ease the grief or trouble of
Clearly, comfort is an aspect of love.
With love being a basic human need, this shows your need for comfort as well. Revisiting your comfort zone is an act of self-love in response to having made yourself vulnerable. When you feel vulnerable you feel naked.
People aren’t good at processing important things when they’re naked. ― Kelly Williams Brown
Revisiting your comfort zone is where you process your feelings of nakedness caused by going outside your comfort zone. This means your comfort zone is a processing center.
It’s where you process your experience. You unpack it to see what was good, and what wasn’t. What worked out, and what didn’t. What you liked, and what you didn’t.
Strong informed decisions are made while revisiting the comfort zone.
Strong informed decisions are made while revisiting the comfort zone. Click To Tweet
THE GROWTH CYCLE
You don’t leave the comfort zone and revisit it just once to achieve growth. It’s a repetitive cycle with both places being temporary. Making either place permanent will cause stagnation or burnout.
How long you stay outside your comfort zone or revisit it will be personal to you. It will depend to how large your comfort zone is and many other factors. For example, how drastic the step outside is, and how much fear is involved.
Being a person committed to your growth will involve this cycle. It’s by going through this cycle over and over that you’ll become who you were destined to be and live your best life.
Personal growth is a life-long thing. Remind yourself of this often. It’s easy to become impatient but growth happens little by little. Give yourself grace and enjoy the journey.
Leaving your comfort zone and revisiting it is like an ebb and flow for stable growth.
Leaving your comfort zone and revisiting it is like an ebb and flow for stable growth. Click To Tweet
WHAT NEXT
- How difficult is it for you to leave your comfort zone?
- Do you intentionally process what you experience outside your comfort zone?
- What are some things you’ve done to expand your comfort zone?
- Talk to me in the comments – I want to hear from you because you matter.
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I appreciate this post so much! You basically spoke my own thoughts aloud- in fact, I was thinking something similar just recently. I read a quote somewhere that said “No great work was ever done from the comfort zone,” and while I understood what the quote was getting at in terms of exploring into the unknown (which is an invaluable and important thing for us to do), I couldn’t help but disagree to a certain extent- just in the sense that I produce some of my best work when I’m most immersed in my element, which is arguably in the comfort zone (or maybe not?). That’s a bit different than what you were saying here, but still a related thought. Anyway, thanks for writing this, I was glad to hear this coming from somewhere outside my own head!
That’s awesome, Viola. I’ve heard that quote before. It’s those kind of quotes that made me feel like I had to live outside of my comfort zone all the time. They’re misleading. I agree with you about producing good work in our element.
You’re welcome, and thank you for sharing!
I like this, Danielle! Stepping in and out of my comfort zone also prepares me for those times when I’m unwillingly forced out of my comfort zone. It’s good to know I know how to find my way back.
Thank you, Debi. I’m glad it you liked it and found it helpful.It’s so important to both enlarge and know our way back to our comfort zone.
Thanks for sharing!