The Comfort Zone is Really Uncomfortable

According to Wikipedia a comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible.

Interesting right? Remember what we have learned about feelings? Feelings are not facts. When we think of a comfort zone we erroneously believe it’s comfortable but I will argue it’s not that comfortable at all!

The Wikipedia definition says in the comfort zone we experience “low levels of anxiety and stress“ but what if there was a zone that we operated in where we didn’t have anxiety or stress because we had confidence and skills to manage our life?

Wikipedia also says that in the comfort zone we have a steady level of performance. What if steady just means we spin our wheels that we stay mediocre? Is that “comfortable?” Or does not getting where we want to be induce more stress and anxiety?

Are we really at ease in the comfort zone or are we just not challenged?

Are we really in control? Or are we controlled by our emotions and continually drawn to the familiar?

It’s my belief that not only do we not grow in the comfort zone, nothing really great happens there. In fact I think bad things happen there. When I lived in my comfort zone I regularly binged and I did not pursue goals that scared me. I had to get away from what was familiar and I had to fight an uncomfortable fight with my voice of sabotage in order to escape the comfort zone and experience truly awesome things.

What is YOUR comfort zone keeping you from experiencing??