Discomfort Zone

This article was published in Central Magazine in the June/July '12 issue. 

A person’s “Comfort Zone” is as old and wrinkled as an old man. But unlike most old men, it is – in my opinion – boring as hell. I can hardly stay in that zone for more than two weeks in a row; or two months or two years, according to what kind of zone I’m talking about.

It comes in different shapes and sizes this comfort zone; it may look flowery and beautiful, or it may choke you but you just don’t have the guts to break out of it. It is the same style of clothes you wear every day, the same songs you know by heart or the same genre you listen to day and night. It is the group of friends you know and the same places you go to together because you fear that “other places wouldn’t have the same quality of service or food”. So what if the next place you go to is not as good? You know there are a million different places you can try out, right? And a million days to come when you can try them too! It is also the partner you’re not very happy with, but you can’t leave because you don’t know any better, or you can’t imagine any different.

Comfort zones also come in glossy colors and impressive packages; like the secure job and promising career in front of you, the one your parents are pushing you towards and your friends are saying you’re crazy not to take. This job could be – for you – boring and not fulfilling, and it doesn’t get the best in you; but it gets good money and benefits, and you’re good at it…so you stick with it. It could also be your political or social beliefs and concepts, which are actually not yours but your parents’. However, you have come to this world taught that they were the best there is, and you continue believing so forever.

According to Mr. Wikipedia’s definition; the comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk. I would say it is basically “not trying new things, staying on the sidelines, living in a bubble (even if it’s a good bubble), avoiding risks and playing it safe”. Is this really what you want to do with your life? Play it safe? Would this even be called playing? Or Life?

Let’s look at it from another side. We all know God has created this huge earth, with its beautiful scenery of mountains, rivers, oceans, greenery and things that we can never even count. We also know that He created human beings with brains - and naturally minds, and granted each person talents, interests, hobbies and gifts, as well as perceptions, beliefs and attitudes. Do you think God wanted for those things to remain unexplored and unwitnessed? Do you really think He meant for each person to keep to himself and be the same from birth till death? Does He want each of us to lazily conform to the herd, for fear of being judged by the same people who have blown this bubble around him in the first place? If so was the case, how do you think prophets have spread new religions and millions of people followed them? How did scientists make discoveries and inventions when their own families and even their own countries turned their back on them; or worse, were against them?

One should be positive those people were way out of their comfort zone...

We hear a lot of talk about team work, synergy, solidarity and many other words that all have something in common: people. Now, take a moment and count how many people you have inside your own comfort zone…3? 5? 20 even? And now imagine stepping out of that zone. How many people do you expect to meet there? A hundred? Thousand? More? I bet "synergizing" with a thousand different people would bring much better output, and I’m pretty sure those thousand people would be much more interesting than what you already know. 


People living outside your comfort zone are at the very least different than what you know; and their differences will shape your life in ways that you will not comprehend until much later. But ‘people’ are just an example; trying thinking of the experiences you will have, the places you will visit and the things you will explore. They will all be part of a new, more exposed, more productive, more well rounded – and I promise, much happier – YOU.

Build the guts to break out of your comfort zone. Believe me, you'll be back to thank me ;)