“Get out of your comfort zone. Do something different.”

“If you do not give until it hurts, you have really given.”

Really?

Along in life, I come to view the definition of comfort zone in the manner I am about to share with you.

In the past, when I was in my late teens and younger, I kept viewing comfort zone as a zone in which I am comfortable but when stepped out of that zone, I will no longer be comfortable. I kept thinking that that zone is fixed, and that everybody has a limit to what he can endure as uncomfortable. I thought that the further I stepped out of that zone, the more uncomfortable I’d be. I thought that my comfort zone has a fixed perimeter. It made me miserable as I believed that I wanted to be a better person but I kept interpreting the words of people around me that I did not experience a “breakthrough” because I didn’t step out of my comfort zone… Their success indicator was my level of discomfort, or so I thought.

That’s the problem. My belief was wrong. Until I am proven wrong, I am believing what I am about to share with you as the truth, the truth that liberated me in this particular area of trying to live a better life while being comfortable.

You see, being brought up in a typical chinese family tradition, diligence is viewed as a virtue, and diligence is also often associated with hard work plus perseverance. And hard work and perseverance are often associated with pain and discomfort. Later on, this is what I realized:

 

Comfort Zone is an area that can be expanded.

I learnt to condition my mind to think and my mouth to say “expand my comfort zone” instead of “step out of my comfort zone.”

This made a world of difference to me. After I decided to replace “step out of” with “expand” my comfort zone, I got to know through another avenue that what I did is also what is known as Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) or Auto-Suggestion. This topic would require another post for discussion, so for now, I’ll explain how I view comfort zone nowadays.

What if I tell you comfort zone is growing in tandem with your stature as a person? Another word for your stature is the term: maturity.

What do I mean? I am saying that your comfort zone is as big as your maturity. The more mature you are, the more discomfort you’ll be able to accommodate. If you find it hard to serve a ten year old girl who is of no blood relation with you and has a different skin color of yours, why? If you find it hard to wake up on time to prepare breakfast for your spouse, why? Is it so hard to walk across the kitchen table to pass the TV remote controller to your sibling when he or she asks you to do it?

I am saying that:

  • Your comfort zone is as big as your maturity.
  • You can choose to expand your comfort zone by stretching its size when the situation calls for the need.
  • You need not go nearer to the edge of your border all the time, because you can be near the axis of your comfort. That’s who you really are.
  • You can grow your comfort zone.

 

Here is what I’d say today:

Don’t step out of your comfort zone; expand your comfort zone.

 

Be a bigger person. (:

How do you think? WHat is your understanding of comfort zone? Do you agree with me? Let me know how you think by dropping a comment!

To your success, cheers!