How do you define your personal comfort zone?
In physical terms, your comfort zone is the temperature range at which the naked human body is able to preserve a balance of heat without sweating or shivering.
Your emotional comfort zone is the situation in which you feel comfortable, secure, or in control.
It is the psychological state you maintain because it feels the safest and the most familiar.
What is your state right now?
And when did you last leap beyond it?
My own life, both personal and professional, has been a journey of leaping beyond my comfort zone.
This has included living on four continents and stretching my limits as a stranger in strange lands, most recently in Japan.
I have been compelled time and again to reach beyond the edge of the accustomed into unknown territory.
In love and in business I have heeded my yearning and my hunches.
Although uprooting and transplanting is traumatic, the personal growth can be remarkable.
I have plumbed depths within myself I never knew existed.
And developed skills and talents I never thought were mine.
I have experienced the exhilaration of goals accomplished.
And confronted the dark misery of failure and despair.
When you stick within your comfort zone you think and act from conditioned attitudes.
The habituated becomes your unvarying habit.
You live in a rut.
But one day you have an inkling this is no longer enough.
Perhaps you sense a restlessness within.
Your normal routine ceases to satisfy.
You find yourself intrigued by some unfamiliar idea or activity.
You recognize the longing of your soul.
You are motivated to leap beyond your comfort zone.
This can intimidate, because leaping beyond your comfort zone asks you to jump past the edge of what you know.
And the edge is exactly that: Edgy.
If you take a deep breath and launch yourself from the precipice, however, you soar into the rewards.
- You learn what going beyond your edge means.
- You discover you are capable of much more than you ever thought possible.
- You embrace new ideas and experiences.
- You build confidence in your own abilities.
- You overcome your fear and anxiety.
- You develop your self-reliance.
- You gain more enjoyment.
- You feel more alive and connected.
- You encounter your greater self.
What prevents you from leaping beyond your comfort zone?
How do you intend to leap beyond your comfort zone in 2010?
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Catrien: Great post and great point. The only way we move forward and grow is by expanding our horizons and moving into new areas. It’s an important point you make because you have to make a concerted effort to move and never become complacent with the status quo. It is too easy to fall into the trap of getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of live and not breaking free from our everyday routines. I think we always have to make certain we are pushing forward and allowing things to continually unfold in ways we may not ever had imagined. Thanks for the insightful words.
Sibyl, hello again, it is always so good to see you here. Your point about concerted effort is exactly what is hard for so many of us. Everyday routines comfort, but they can also limit us so that we become unable to move past our own edge. Life can be a continual unfolding of possibilities if we have the courage to move in unfamiliar ways. Thanks for your perceptive comment.