Learn How To Stretch Your Comfort Zone
http://www.careerfeed.net/articles/9740/1/Learn-How-To-Stretch-Your-Comfort-Zone/Page1.html
Saleem Rana
Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life. Free information.
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Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this
article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or
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Published on 09/21/2009
When you break out of your comfort zone, you accept a challenge that induces self-growth.
Your comfort zone is a psychological structure to keep you doing familiar things.
When you pull away from the things, people, and experiences you are familiar with, when you step out of your comfort zone, you are on a path of growth. This growth, to say the least, is forcing you to stretch, and this stretching is uncomfortable.
It would be wonderful if there was a way to comfortably grow. But growth actually stretches your self-confidence to a breaking point. You are no longer able to use those talents and social skills that had become second-nature. You can no longer call upon those who could be relied upon to support us. Instead, you find yourself in a brave new world.
Imagine that you are living in a small village. You know everyone. You know what to do, and when. This is your safe and familiar world. But your life calls for you to go beyond your village. Outside the village are resources, more money, more education, and more things that you need to experience. You are forced outside your village because although it is comfortable, it does not have everything you need to succeed in life.
This is how life works. You have a vision, a new sense of purpose, but it is always a little beyond your reach. There is a gap where you are now and where you want to be. And usually, you have a lot of learning and experiencing to do before you can close the gap.
You can have your dream, but not the details on how to make it come true. You can make plans, and some plan is better than no plan, but these are only based on what you now know. As you move toward what you are seeking, new knowledge will appear, and you will have to continually revise your plan.
Discomfort is inevitable. Everything in you is calling you to go back to the way things were, even if they were not that good anyway.
The reason you need to grow is because your life is not really that comfortable. There is something missing in it. What you take to be comfortable is only what is familiar, but it is not what you need at the moment.
Staying at home is comfortable; going to work is uncomfortable. Yet unless you make money, you will lose your home.
Staying at your current weight is comfortable; going to a gym and following a strict diet is uncomfortable. Yet unless you lose excess weight, your health will get worse.
Staying single is comfortable; meeting and dating new people is uncomfortable. Yet unless you find a companion, you will continue to feel shy and lonely.
Outside the familiar is something that you need to make you more of whom you want to be. There is something you need out there that will help you be successful.
You can, of course, refuse to step outside of your comfort zone, preferring to cope with your limitations. You can opt for contraction rather than expansion, for stagnation rather than growth.
Unless you are willing to face your comfort zone, you will fail to reach your goals, and your power to make positive, life-affirming and expanding decisions will also start to atrophy.
Unfortunately, most people choose to honor their comfort zones, and in the process lose out on the opportunity to be, do, and have more of what would truly enrich their lives. The few who do respond to a challenge in a positive way are those who start to experience levels of success they would never have dreamed possible.
Stepping outside your comfort zone is both frightening and exhilarating. It is stepping into the unknown with the faith that you will be able to adapt to the experience.
When you pull away from the things, people, and experiences you are familiar with, when you step out of your comfort zone, you are on a path of growth. This growth, to say the least, is forcing you to stretch, and this stretching is uncomfortable.
It would be wonderful if there was a way to comfortably grow. But growth actually stretches your self-confidence to a breaking point. You are no longer able to use those talents and social skills that had become second-nature. You can no longer call upon those who could be relied upon to support us. Instead, you find yourself in a brave new world.
Imagine that you are living in a small village. You know everyone. You know what to do, and when. This is your safe and familiar world. But your life calls for you to go beyond your village. Outside the village are resources, more money, more education, and more things that you need to experience. You are forced outside your village because although it is comfortable, it does not have everything you need to succeed in life.
This is how life works. You have a vision, a new sense of purpose, but it is always a little beyond your reach. There is a gap where you are now and where you want to be. And usually, you have a lot of learning and experiencing to do before you can close the gap.
You can have your dream, but not the details on how to make it come true. You can make plans, and some plan is better than no plan, but these are only based on what you now know. As you move toward what you are seeking, new knowledge will appear, and you will have to continually revise your plan.
Discomfort is inevitable. Everything in you is calling you to go back to the way things were, even if they were not that good anyway.
The reason you need to grow is because your life is not really that comfortable. There is something missing in it. What you take to be comfortable is only what is familiar, but it is not what you need at the moment.
Staying at home is comfortable; going to work is uncomfortable. Yet unless you make money, you will lose your home.
Staying at your current weight is comfortable; going to a gym and following a strict diet is uncomfortable. Yet unless you lose excess weight, your health will get worse.
Staying single is comfortable; meeting and dating new people is uncomfortable. Yet unless you find a companion, you will continue to feel shy and lonely.
Outside the familiar is something that you need to make you more of whom you want to be. There is something you need out there that will help you be successful.
You can, of course, refuse to step outside of your comfort zone, preferring to cope with your limitations. You can opt for contraction rather than expansion, for stagnation rather than growth.
Unless you are willing to face your comfort zone, you will fail to reach your goals, and your power to make positive, life-affirming and expanding decisions will also start to atrophy.
Unfortunately, most people choose to honor their comfort zones, and in the process lose out on the opportunity to be, do, and have more of what would truly enrich their lives. The few who do respond to a challenge in a positive way are those who start to experience levels of success they would never have dreamed possible.
Stepping outside your comfort zone is both frightening and exhilarating. It is stepping into the unknown with the faith that you will be able to adapt to the experience.