In the warmth of your comfort zone, life appears cozy and familiar. Finding the motivation to escape is more complex than you want to admit due to the temptation, mindset, and fixed habits of this comfort zone. However, the more you stay in your comfort zone, the fewer opportunities you have to immerse yourself entirely in the human experience.
Learning to venture out of your comfort zone takes work and a shift in perspective. However, each step you take to push yourself beyond your comfort zone leads to personal growth, learning, and accomplishment so that you can explore your full potential.
5 life-changing steps to step outside of your comfort zone
1. Change your daily routine
This is a straightforward one because there is so much room for improvement. So leave early, park a few blocks away, and take a walk.
Walking for recreation is a lost exercise rediscovered during the pandemic, as there are few better ways to maintain social distance. For example, a brief walk during your lunch break is a beautiful way to spend your time.
Do you watch the morning and evening newscasts daily? Don’t worry about them. Instead, use your time wisely by reading a book or listening to music. Listen to an audiobook during your commute.
2. Discover a new skill
You might have an expensive folk guitar. Naturally, you hadn’t played it in perhaps many years. Now, if you start playing it again, what will happen?
Yes, your fingers will hurt, and it will be hard to maintain hand gestures. However, when you start learning it again, it will get smoother over time.
Playing a musical instrument is an excellent way to extend your horizons, but there are plenty of other possibilities. For example, ride a horse, make a model plane or automobile, or enroll in a class at a nearby institution. Also, consider visiting a new location for a weekend getaway or vacation.
3. Choose tasks that seem impossible to you
Consider a few things that make you uncomfortable or seem impossible. Please list them and mark the one you want to start with with a star. You can handle the others later. Making a list can help you plan how you want to portray yourself. In addition, creating specific ideas inspires you to put your goals into action rather than just think about them.
4. Travel to your fairyland
Traveling is a great way to step out of your comfort zone. It’s not just fun, but also educational.
If you typically go to the same beach resort for vacations, try something different the next time. Exploring your fairyland (a new region; language) and way of life is one of the most enjoyable experiences you can have, since it expands your horizons and challenges your thinking.
Traveling also exposes you to the world’s natural treasures, developing a tremendous respect for nature and the environment.
5. Don’t be too serious about yourself
Leave your ego aside. Make fun of yourself and your blunders. Consider how your adventures may turn into fantastic stories people want to hear. And if you fall (which you will), scrape the dust off your knees and get back up.
What good is a victory if you never learn to lose?
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
Life is comfortable in the comfort zone, where you spend most of your time. But everything you wish to be is in the process of developing. In the second zone, you will feel vulnerable, afraid, and uneasy, yet it is in that conflict that the magic happens. That is where growth and learning take place.
That is where you develop and become strong!
Starting before you’re ready is challenging, but necessary, if you want to change. So lean into that experience of discomfort, and don’t shrink back. In the long run, it will equip you with skills, knowledge, and experience that will lead you to safety.
