Humans love living within their comfort zone… Even if their comfort zone is full of discomfort.
Stepping out of your comfort zone is crucial for personal growth because it pushes you to face challenges and uncertainties that lead to new skills, self-awareness and confidence. However, that can feel like kind of an overwhelming and scary thing if you’ve never really experienced confidence and self-awareness… You’d be surprised at how many people express that they never have!
By stepping into the unknown, you grow mentally and emotionally, which is key to living a life aligned with your highest self.
For example, consider public speaking—a quite common fear. By embracing that discomfort and learning the skills needed, you not only overcome fear but unlock greater opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Life is pretty sweet once you step outside of your comfort zone. The only thing that makes it scary is the fear of the unknown. But everything we know right now was once unknown to us.
Personal and professional growth aligns with becoming your highest self, where growth is prioritized over staying “safe” in familiar patterns. Safe holds you back, and we even experience “unsafe” things while in the safety of our comfort zone. So you may as well step outside of it and experience all that you can become.
Breaking through this is a powerful way to elevate your life, helping you live with more purpose, confidence and alignment with your deepest desires. “Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” Jack Canfield.
Why do we stay in our comfort zone?
As I mentioned, our comfort zone is our perceived place of safety. Our brains want everything to stay the same. It will always remind you that it’s safer to keep doing what we know. But that’s, honestly, not true.
We all have fears. Whether they manifest in overt ways or not. But our subconscious is really big on routine. Routine is a safety mechanism. Your comfort zone is definitely within the list of things that are considered safe to your subconscious.
We know what’s in our comfort zone. The routines are familiar; therefore, we know we can handle what’s in our comfort zone. Of course, we prefer the comfort of our comfort zone because it’s the place where we feel confident in our ability to make decisions and cope with what happens to us.
The Importance of Discomfort for Growth
Here’s the thing, though. Discomfort is the key to growth. We cannot grow when we are stuck, stagnant in our comfort zone. Once we take a brave step out into the area of discomfort, that’s where the magic happens.
When we stay within our comfort zone, we do the same things, day in and day out. When you do the same things, you get the same results. It’s as simple as that. When you step into the grey area of discomfort, that’s where you can take risks and try new things and move the needle forward. Growth happens amongst the discomfort if we are brave enough to step into the unknown.
There are some great benefits to stepping into discomfort. You can build up your resilience. If you never face conflict, you never build up your ability to work through things. You need to keep working on that in order to seamlessly navigate the muddy waters.
You also build up your confidence in your ability to achieve things. You might be surprised at how many people are actually more afraid of success than failure. But the more you take risks, the more confident you become in your ability to handle life and achieve your dreams.
You also are shown new opportunities that you may not have thought were possible within your comfort zone. Sometimes, the scariest things we face become our biggest opportunities and blessings.
Practical Tips to Break Free
To break free of your comfort zone it’s not so much as busting through the wall like the Kool-Aid guy but more about taking the right steps and taking the time to learn the lessons you need on your way.
Try these tips to start breaking free of your comfort zone so you can experience real growth:
- Start small: Take manageable risks. Like I said, you don’t need to barrel through like you’re running a race. It’s not a race. You need to slow down and take smaller steps to ensure you’re making the right decisions and learning the lessons you need to in order to succeed and move forward.
- Challenge your limiting beliefs. We often put these on the back burner because there are other “more important things” we need to work on. But dealing with these will save you so much time and energy later on. They can be the things that bring all of your hard work to a screeching halt. Start challenging them early, and don’t assume they’re not important.
- Embrace failure as a learning tool. Inevitably, when we take risks and step out of our comfort zone, we will experience failure. That’s part of life. But if we never fail, then we never learn and, therefore, never grow. No one gets it perfect on the first go. You either stay stagnant, never going after your goals, or you take risks, fail, learn and grow.
Reframe Fear as a Positive Sign
Funnily enough, everyone seems so afraid of fear itself. There’s nothing to be afraid of in our comfort zones because we know what to expect. Therefore, fear exists outside of our comfort zones. Being afraid of fear is completely normal, but we need to reframe our fear into something positive.
Fear can be a signal for growth. Sure, some fear is a survival feature. If you come face to face with a bear in the woods, feeling fear is a good signal that if you try to run up and hug that bear, it probably won’t end well for you. But in non-life or death situations, fear is a good thing.
We’ve established that we don’t grow within our comfort zone, there’s nothing to fear there; we just carry on with the status quo. When you bravely take that step out of your comfort zone, you will experience discomfort and some fear. Use your fear as a gauge for the progress you’re making and the direction you should take.
If we aren’t chasing goals that are meaningful to us, then we don’t really feel fear regarding failure or success. We aren’t that invested, so there’s really nothing to lose. But when we are chasing goals that are important to us, the fear of things not working out (or working out beyond our wildest dreams) becomes real. Use your fear as a signal that you’re moving in the right direction and that you’re growing.
Instead of seeing your fear as a barrier, think of it as energy that can fuel your positive outcomes.
Focus on the opportunities that you’ll have rather than the threat. This way, you can begin to use your fear as your motivation.
Start by practicing visualization, where you imagine yourself successfully achieving your goals outside of your comfort zone. This can help amplify your feelings of excitement. Breathwork and mindfulness can also play a key role in calming your anxiety and fear and allowing you to approach these challenges with a positive mindset.
Hypnosis and NEE techniques can help reframe these fears that are holding you back and allow you to think of them as your guideposts. The Highest Self Academy has some great options for this.
Create an Accountability System to help you keep stepping out of your comfort zone:
You need to take consistent action toward this goal. It will never be fully easy to remain outside your comfort zone or to keep taking those steps out. Try these tips for staying accountable and consistent.
- Surround yourself with supportive individuals or join communities. Find accountability buddies who can help and encourage you on this journey.
- Set milestones and clear goals so you can remain focused on the bigger picture.
- Track your progress along the way so you can see the progress you’ve been making. It can sometimes feel like our little steps don’t mean anything, but trust me, they do.
- Celebrate all victories. Know your rewards and celebrate all of your accomplishments, big or small. This boosts your motivation and confidence to keep going. It tells your brain that you can do it. It’s the concrete proof it needs.
Looking for support in stepping out of your comfort zone, reaching all of those big scary goals and living aligned with your highest potential?
Let go of the fear and limiting beliefs that are holding you back (for good), change your subconscious patterns, change the way you see yourself and what you deserve in life, and embody this most magnificent version of yourself.