Moving From Your Comfort Zone to Creating Your Dreams
May 20th, 2019 by Emily | CommentBy Chris Krohn
Do you feel like you’re in a rut? You may know how you would like your life to be, but you are unable to move toward it?
You can only grow if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and make changes, one at a time, toward your dreams and goals. Yet your comfort zone is very compelling, a very strong force that keeps you right where you are…stuck, but secure. It is part of our human nature to resist and fear the unknown. This part of our nature is survival-related. After all, if we took chances with wild abandon, we might do things that are too risky and may harm us. So, our human “programming”, over hundreds of thousands of years, has developed to keep us safe. Some individuals – explorers, pioneers and inventors – have always been willing to step out of their comfort zones and take chances, but most people have always sought out safety and security. Deep roots rather than big wings. The strength of your comfort zone is part of your programming, part of your human nature.
Yet, it may also leave you feeling unhappy, unfulfilled, and with a deep sense that there has to be more to life.
You may wish to make changes to your life. You would like to have more joy, better health, more love and connection, more abundance, or a job or vocation that feels like a calling or life purpose. In order to have these, you need to make changes that will take you out of your comfort zone, and that is uncomfortable. Even scary. You have no map for this new world you want to move toward. So everything in your nature resists making changes. You try, but each effort triggers those fears and you retreat back into the security of the comfort zone. Your comfort zone may be undesirable and unfulfilling, but it is KNOWN. You have a map for it. It is safe.
So how do we move beyond our comfort zone, and toward living our dreams? First, by recognizing that we have a comfort zone. Acknowledging that feeling tied to your comfort zone is normal, because it represents familiarity and security, may help you understand this part of your nature and not judge yourself because you feel resistance to making changes.
Second is knowing that moving out of your comfort zone will bring some fears and discomfort, but that these will pass as you move to your “new normal”. The diagram above shows that we enter a Fear Zone when we begin to make changes. We feel fear because, initially, we have no map for this new life we are creating. We can also feel less competent and confident because we are making changes that are new to us. The Fear Zone is like a ship sailing from a known land to an unknown land. We are at sea, navigating, but we aren’t “there” yet. Moving through this zone takes commitment to creating something better for your life, and the knowing that the changes you are making will bring you to a life that you love, and that this new life will become your new comfort zone.
From the Fear Zone, you move into the Learning Zone. It is here that you are acquiring the new skills that you need that will lead to the life you desire. With each new skill learned and mastered, you begin to re-build your self-confidence. You begin to see your new life unfolding, and become more motivated to continue.
From there, you move into the Growth Zone. Here, you are living your dreams. You have successfully navigated the changes, acquired new skills, and are living with joy, health, abundance, and love. Your self-worth and self-confidence have also grown significantly, because you now know that you can make any changes you desire with success and a feeling of accomplishment. In this zone, you also feel free to make any additional changes you desire, because you know that you will be successful.
So, if you feel like you are in a rut, give yourself the gift of making the changes that will take you to the life of your dreams. Know that this will initially involve resistance and fear, and know that you will create a new comfort zone in your new life that will be everything you desire!
