How To Get Out Of The Comfort Zone

Comfort zone is a term widely used in everyday life and in informal contexts. In addition, it is an object of research and a concept that is used in the field of psychology. But, What does comfort zone mean?

1. The comfort zone

What is the comfort zone? This concept refers to a mental and behavioral state in which people follow a routine and repeated behavior, strategy and attitude, without assuming any type of risk or change in their lives. The performance obtained in this area is constant, but it is an area in which learning does not occur, since it is located everything that is already known and it is dominated. It is a personal space in which one acts without much awareness and without paying too much attention, with the so-called autopilot. The situations are familiar and known, so the person knows for sure how to react to them and deal with them. What happens if I leave the comfort zone? That I enter the learning zone.

2. The learning zone

The so-called learning zone is an area of ​​expansion in which people assume new challenges and challenges, and experiment in different areas of their life. This space involves personal effort, an initial feeling of insecurity and lack of protection, and acceptable levels of anxiety. However, this is where personal growth, learning, acquiring new tools and expanding knowledge occur. Once the person masters what was new, it becomes part of the comfort zone. However, behind the learning zone is the panic zone.

3. The panic zone

Learning no longer occurs in this area, because the situation exceeds its own limits and you experience a sense of lack of control that is paralyzing. In this space, very high levels of anxiety and fear develop, these lead to behaviors of fleeing to the comfort zone again.

If you are considering leaving your comfort zone and you don’t know how, you may ask yourself the following questions:

What does it mean to leave your comfort zone? Leaving the comfort zone means doing new activities, adopting new habits or pursuing new challenges.

Why don’t I want to leave my comfort zone? In the comfort zone, people experience a feeling of control and security. In this environment, uncertainty is minimized and stability is obtained. Despite this, the well-being obtained from this area does not have to come from personal growth and satisfaction, rather it is derived from the absence of emotions such as excess anxiety, fear and overwhelming uncertainty and insecurity.

Why is it so hard to get out of your comfort zone? The resistance that people encounter when leaving their comfort zone is precisely this fear and uncertainty, together with the feeling of lack of control and disorientation. This area of ​​comfort can be safe and constitute a kind of refuge, but it is limiting and in the long term it can produce apathy, demotivation, boredom, sadness, a sense of meaninglessness, passivity and avoidance behaviors. That is why it is necessary to make an effort and leave your own comfort zone from time to time.

Why leave your comfort zone? The reasons for leaving your comfort zone towards the learning zone are the benefits it brings. For example:

• Increases self-confidence
• Increases the ability to face different problems
• Provides new perspectives and experiences
• Expand knowledge

How to get out of the comfort zone easily? Because it is not always easy to leave our area of ​​security and control, below we show a series of tips and exercises that can be helpful in getting out of the comfort zone:

1. Know the limits: If you are wondering how to get out of the comfort zone, it is important that leaving the comfort zone does not become an obsession and excess pressure. Each person is different and has rhythms that differ from each other, so there are people who could get out of this area through a sudden big change and others who will need to make small steps or changes. Therefore, self-knowledge and analysis of our personality traits and fears are necessary, since it is vital to find the balance between anxiety and the positive that is derived from this departure from the area in which we find comfort.
2. Don’t fall into catastrophism: When considering and planning to leave the comfort zone, it helps to know that being outside of it does not mean never returning to it. The comfort zone is a space to which you can always return if you wish, since the learning zone does not entail absolute loss of control; The responsibility and decision-making power still belongs to the person.
3. Discover new places: One of the exercises to get out of the comfort zone is to make a list of places you have never been to and cultural or artistic events that take place and try to go to one of them once a week. In this way the closest but unknown environment is explored.
4. Get out of your own style: Novelty can be found in a simple way, simply by trying new styles of food, music, genre of books, movies, etc. It may be useful to pay attention and think about what is new that these unknown stimuli have given us.
5. Search company: Carrying out some activity or change that produces fear and avoidance with another person can be the key to daring to take the step, because it can reduce anguish and uncertainty. It may be the factor that promotes action.
6. Analyze your own experiences: Another exercise to get out of the comfort zone consists of being aware and mentally reviewing the things we have learned throughout our lives, as well as remembering the previous and subsequent feelings and emotions, the benefits and knowledge that were obtained, That can facilitate the decision to leave the comfort zone.
7. Meet people: Exposing yourself to new people is a challenge in itself on many occasions, therefore, it is a good exercise to get out of your comfort zone. Furthermore, the diversity of people brings different points of view, knowledge, ideas and plans that perhaps you would not have considered until you had contact with that person. Here you will find tips for meeting new people.
8. Take some time to know what you want: This involves reflecting on what we would really like to do and analyzing the barriers we encounter and addressing how to overcome them. Once the desire or desires have been defined, it is advisable to break down this objective into different steps to follow, as it promotes clarification, simplification and achievability of the same.
9. Create a hierarchy of fears: Another of the exercises to get out of this zone consists of making a list of actions or activities that cause us fear and/or anxiety from mild to high levels and ordering them from least to greatest anxiety. Once done, start the presentation with those that are least scary.
10. Change the routine: It is advisable to spend some time analyzing what routines we perform throughout the days, thinking and writing a list of possible alternatives or variations that could be introduced to generate a change in daily life and get out of the comfort zone.
11. Search information: Sometimes, people can exaggerate and magnify what is unknown to us. Therefore, finding out more and informing yourself about those activities that scare you can reduce uncertainty, which is one of the factors that blocks leaving the comfort zone.
12. Get prepared: Another exercise to get out of the comfort zone is to ask yourself what could go wrong or be negative when doing something that makes you afraid and insecure. Once identified, think and plan how to address those possibilities. This anticipation helps generate a greater sense of control over events.
13. Identify vital areas to improve: This involves analyzing those parts of our life or our own attitudes and behaviors that we would like to change in a positive way. Once the identification is made, brainstorm different alternatives, you can also ask more people to contribute new ideas. Choose those that seem most plausible and put them into practice.
14. Detach yourself: The comfort zone also has a material part and involves all those objects that a person does not want to get rid of, even though they do not need them, since they comfort them and in some way make them feel safe. It is a good exercise to get out of the comfort zone to start reducing these little by little.
15. Go to a professional person: Paralysis and blocks when it comes to leaving the comfort zone are common. Therefore, it can be helpful to turn to a professional person who works on self-knowledge, confidence, motivation and who helps to jointly design an action plan and monitor it. Furthermore, seeking help is already a big step into the learning zone in itself.

If you are interested in advice especially aimed at the love sphere, you can read this article on How to get out of the comfort zone in a relationship.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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