The Comfort Zone, Why We Need To Step Out Of It More Often

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. — J. A. Shedd.

Don’t we all wish to be safe and comfortable? I mean with so much uncertainty going on in life, the most natural thing in the world to do and be is in the comfort zone. We all want safety and comfort.

It is comfortable eating only the same food, walking the same road, staying in the same job even though you hate it, living in the same community, talking to the same person it’s like wearing the same old familiar shoes. You are in a comfort zone when you do nothing new. As humans, we cling to comfort and familiarity. Slowly but surely this very comfort will take us to sleep or complacency and when we wake up five or ten years later, we realize that it is too late.

“He who sits in the cushion of comfort goes to sleep”.

Our brain is designed in such a way that its primary function is to keep us safe. Therefore, any thought or decision or action that is perceived as dangerous is an enemy to the brain. The body expresses emotions like pain or discomfort.

It is little wonder that we feel comfortable not exercising, even when we know that it will improve our health? Or not taking that risk in business or relationships, even when we know it might bring more money or win their hearts? It is that uneasy feeling we get when we do something new or unfamiliar. Sure we feel familiar and safe with friends and family and we feel alert and unsafe with strangers. But we don’t grow when we are staying safe and comfortable.

Pain avoidance is natural. Our brain perceives any discomfort as a threat to its existence, so it tricks us into thinking it is safer to not take action or not take that risk. But we all know deep down inside of us, we crave being important. We want to matter, now and after we are gone. We crave the things that we value like more money, happier relationships, that promotion, that recognition etc. But if we don’t take action, if we don’t take that risk, we will not get those things and we will regret it later.

Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret.

For me, what would leave me with grievous pain of regret is growing old without having tried my best when my age allowed me. I want to do what I love or what I know best, leaving no stone unturned. There is no practical point in being regretful, we have to take the shots now or we’ll miss.

“You miss all the shots that you didn’t take”.

We all fear the unknown. The known environment, people and places make us comfortable, settled. But that is our enemy, the real enemy of success and achievement. As Stephen Covey puts it, ‘the real enemy of the great is not the bad but the good’.

Remember, as a species, it is natural even not to brush our teeth or not wear clothes. Had our ancestors stayed “natural” or “comfortable” or complacent, we wouldn’t have advanced so much as a civilization. We would still be hunting and gathering and had no lights and would have died from constant invasions and savagery. We transcended the natural and comfortable to the new and improved. It was unknown to our ancestors, yet they ventured into the unfamiliar to experiment and here we are improved beyond measure.

It is both a personal and moral obligation for us to venture out of our comfort zone into the new, unknown and unfamiliar. At least for the sake of improving our lives, but also for our future generations. We cannot leave any legacy by sitting on the couch.