I have never seen a post or video or image that praised or glorified the so-called comfort zone. A significant percentage of the content around comfort zone is about “how to get out of your comfort zone, why you should never allow yourself to be in the comfort zone, etc.”. The Question is, “is there another side we don’t look at?”

The Origin of Comfort Zone

Perhaps the comfort zone thingie comes from the long-standing cultural perception (yes, almost all the cultures of the world praise being busy, not taking a break, etc.), and I get that sometimes, circumstances force people to keep rolling the wheel.

Perhaps the comfort zone is seen as a bad thing because sleep, rest, or anything that seems less vigorous (physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, etc.) is dubbed as laziness and as such highly stigmatized. Tell me you haven’t seen or heard of people who are mocked, made fun of, or disrespected and attacked because no matter how much in order their affairs are, they do not seem to be engaging in the level of busy-ness and energy defined by their social settings. Oh, this is where gender roles hit hard and double standards or gender abuse lists highest.

Or perhaps, the idea of the Comfort Zone being uncomfortable is our own doing; feeling like we need to be socially compliant and act/ be busy even when we have earned our rest or deserve a break for our physical and mental health.

The Importance of a Break

A break is good whether it’s after an achievement or in the thick of things.

In the thick of things, rest is good to help rejuvenate, re-energize, and or re-strategize.

After achievement, rest is a good reward allowing you to enjoy what you worked so hard for.

If a break is good, why are we so opposed to and uncomfortable about it?

We don’t rest. Do we? We keep going and going until we totally lose what it means to enjoy life or until our bodies and minds collapse and we have to be forced by doctors to ‘rest’. Some of us will take the doctors’ orders seriously but seeing as we are used to running around since we became aware of ourselves and our social environment, it’s hard to just rest. This is when people come up with “what do these doctors know?” Or we start sneaking into activities as long as the doctor doesn’t know about it. Who are we fooling?

To Allow some time in your Comfort Zone or NOT?

My take on the comfort zone is for us to look at it using a different lens. A lens that’s different from seeing the comfort zone as inherently lazy, evil, and unambitious.

Is it that phase of your life where everything (or at least a majority of things) has aligned and you are not overly stressed?

Is it that phase of your life where you have enough cushion (be it social, physical, health, financial, etc.) that you are not overly worried about tomorrow or you can go to sleep peacefully?

Is it that phase/ season of your life where you feel your life is going in the direction it should be?
If it is a good season, why then do we villainize it so much?

Why then do we villainize such a good moment/ season?

While I am not saying that you should forever be content with living in your comfort zone forever (but maybe you should if it is that good and ideal for you). All I am saying is that sometimes we allow ourselves the calm and peace and certainty and happiness that the comfort zone offers you for a while.

If getting out of your comfort zone means improving your situation and being safer and cushioned than you currently are, then go for it.

If getting out of your comfort zone means unlocking your potential and self-actualizing (living the highest and best life you ever dreamt for yourself), then go for it.

CAUTION: When Getting out of your Comfort Zone, Have a Plan

Why People Get Out of the Comfort Zones

Different people have different motivations for wanting to move out of their comfort zones.

1. Public Opinion / Social Pressure.

What do you know about trends? not necessarily Twitte trends, but anything that piques the interest of a population, and for a time, it almost becomes like the ‘in-thing’. Fashion trends, dieting trends, beliefs, parenting, employment, mass-quitting, toxic positivism, trolling, etc. The list of things that trend is endless and ‘Get out of Comfort Zone’ happens to be one of those trends. With this one, some people’s reason for moving out of their comfort zone is just because everyone keeps harping on the need to move out of their comfort zone. I find this one of the most dangerous (uncalculated risk) moves because emotional moves without a logical plan can be unsustainable, and it can be a lot of pressure to keep moving, sometimes even when the resources for moving aren’t present.

2. Need for Increased Security (Financial, Social, etc)

A genuine need to improve the current life status quo to something better;  have more cushion (mentally, physically, financially, etc) to enable them deal with future uncertainties.

3. Personal Growth and Self-Actualization

Growth and Self-Actualization – reach your potential, hence improving your situation to a self-actualization one. Your growth is probably geared towards your happiness or your desire to be of more service to others and the courses that have meaning to you. And sometimes, people want to get out of the comfort zone to make a point or proof to others (probably haters). Don’t even think about laughing at this; I have seen enough people whose motivation for changing their status quo is to  ‘size their enemies’ or ‘keep up with peers’

Whatever your reasons: look at this

All the reasons considered, do yourself a favor and define what your Comfort Zone is to you, why you should or should not stay in it for long, and most importantly, no matter the pressure (from yourself or your social environment), DO NOT jump out of your comfort zone blindly. I know this sounds like a lot; all these considerations and questions and you are probably how to go about this. This is where a Life Coach worth their salt should be able to assist you; you just talk and they try to make sense of all you are saying and together you can start classifying what matters to you versus what you could do without and not feel the pinch, your current resources, and needs, where you want to go, how to get there realistically, etc.

Having a Strategic Plan (a well-thought-out plan that increases your success and minimizes your risks) gives you some peace of mind in knowing that your staying or moving out of your comfort zone is well-informed and your success chances are higher than you landing in a disaster.

Read/ watch more below on how to go about Strategic Planning

You can soberly develop a strategic plan for anything small or big to increase your chances of achieving your goals while minimizing the risk or at least having some mechanisms in place on how to deal with seen and unforeseen risks.

Do not ruin a good thing because you could not still and you jumped blindly.