Your friend asks you to join him for a garden party. It’s nearby, but you don’t know anyone except your friend. You think that you will not feel comfortable between those strangers, so you make up an excuse so that you don’t have to go. Even when you have the time and it’s near your house. Sounds familiar right?
Humans are good at limiting themselves. When you think of a situation, your mind starts to get full of thoughts. And most of them exist out of fear, insecurity and negativity. So even when you know they are not reliable, you still trust your thoughts. You let your mind take over control as it’s trying to keep you safe. But nowadays our mind doesn’t have to protect us from sabre tooth tigers who are running behind us.
But our mind is still responding in this way. It’s better not to take any risk and stay in the warmth of our comfort zone, where everything is safe and familiar. The comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels at ease. Everything outside this zone can cause feelings of anxiety, stress, pain and uncertainty. And those are feelings that we don’t like, so we prefer to avoid them.
But the more we are stuck in our comfort zone, the more opportunities we miss. As we can only grow when we come out of our comfort zone. Every new step will be unfamiliar, a challenge and can give a feeling of discomfort. And change always costs time. So make it easier for yourself to take small steps, so you can reach your goals and live a fulfilling life.
Hereby I would like to share some ways to get out of your comfort zone:
- Join a challenge. You can think of a week without eating sugar, a month of a vegan lifestyle or a 30-day yoga challenge. Choose something that you like.
- Do one thing that you always wanted to do. It can be learning a new language, visiting a new city abroad or making a new dish.
- Change your routine. It is good if you have a healthy daily routine, but the problem with a routine is that it remains the same. So try to reflect every three or six months and check what you can change, improve or replace.
- Work on one thing that you are afraid of. Are you afraid to speak in public or are you afraid to meet new people? Take small steps towards this fear, so eventually you are not so afraid anymore.
- Visit a new place. Visit a part of a city that you haven’t visited before. Or try a new city. You don’t have to travel abroad to visit new places.
- Set personal goals. Be specific and take small steps to reach your goals.
- Connect with people who are also having a growth mindset, so you can help each other. Having friends who remain the same is perfectly fine, but you also need people around you that also want to grow.
- Don’t think too much, but just do it. Don’t take everything too seriously and have fun.
- Celebrate small wins and reward yourself for doing uncomfortable things. Be proud of yourself.
- Find someone who inspires you, so you can learn from that person.
- Learn a new skill with someone else, so you are more motivated to do it.
- Be kind to yourself and be patient. Change will always take time and we all make mistakes and have bad days. Enjoy the journey.
Jane Regina Sauer 