What is it Really Like to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone?

If you are an action gamer, you will probably come across some bounded areas in the fantasy world known as force-fields. It can be your base camp, where you receive the best support and shelter. It can be the places you’ve explored, hence you have a map to access. In fact, you can take your comfort zone as one of those force-fields in gaming.

In this force-field, you are safe. You are comfortable and no one is going to bother you. You know every person in this area and every little detail of the little houses and places. Life is nice in the comfort zone. However, there is all there is in this zone. You have already known everything. You’ve realised that there is a much bigger world out there. This force-field is only 5% of what you have unlocked in the game of life.

I have been in my comfort zone for a long time. I felt great because I have nothing to worry about. I was best at my craft. Yet, I felt like something was missing. I was bored, I was ambitious. I wanted to try more things because there were just so much to try.

Just when I was trying to step out of the zone, my friends and people around me started judging me. They looked down on me because I was a newbie with other things.

I used to care a lot about what they think. Hence, I was very stressed. I always said, “I don’t care what they say.” But the more I said it, the more I cared. I was frustrated because I tried to do this one thing that no one was doing. This put me into the depths of unknown. I was insecure.

This struggle lasted for a year. I was isolated because no one could understand or approve of what I was going after. I was all on my own. There were times when I just wanted to give everything up. Why bother? Why do I have to suffer from so much pain, to sacrifice being on the same page with my friends to go for more? Why can’t I just worry less and go back to the usual? After all, the usual life was nice. But there was no going back, I already had the insight… The insight to a better life, the insight to achieving greater things within my capacity. If I continued to stay within my zone, I would regret not taking such a step.

So, I kept going.

SO, how to tackle it? The solution is that you really have to walk the current. There are so many methods to tackle your fear, but all involve the fact that you have to strike up the courage to go through it head-on. In fact, every successful person has done that. They have faced their demons because it is the way. They have all gone through the stomach cramps and anxiety. They have all listened to that annoying friend saying that they could not do it. They have all failed and got up. So, you also would. There is no shortcut, no excuse.

The best method is really to do the thing you don’t like the most. The truth is, there is no best method. There will only be better methods. Most likely, the “best” you can think of is the one you hate the most, as it is the most direct and the most challenging. Yet, it gives you the best results. Only then, you can find better ways to do it. All this cannot happen without YOU making the move.

So forget about skipping the hard part. There is no way. But good news, after you breach out of that zone, you’ll never regret it.

Now, just rethink of one thing that bothers you… One thing that bothers you so much because you really want to get it done, but you’re afraid. Just think about it. Once you breach through that, just how GOOD you would feel. Because you finally took that step.