Breaking Through Your Comfort Zone To Achieve Growth
There are points where people normally feel emotionally and mentally safe, free from stress, less anxious, and secure, this is called "comfort zone." However, this zone is also an enemy of growth because it makes people docile and they do not take any step in life, which is also an enemy of success. Feeling too comfortable with where you are and doing only what is familiar will hinder you from going for new opportunities or exploring other options, taking on new challenges, or even learning new things, thus making you not to grow and develop. This is why, if you want to experience growth in life, then you have to learn to move out from the point of comfort.
One of the reasons why a lot of people do not take a step from their place of comfort is not necessarily because they are too comfortable with the place that they are per se, but because they are afraid of the step. The truth is that taking a step that you have not taken before may involve a certain degree of risk and may even come with discomfort, but that is the requirement for growth and for success. In order to grow, you have to learn to face your fears by taking steps so that you will be able to overcome what you have been afraid of. You will not be able to overcome what you have been afraid of until you have faced it through taking actions towards it.
Even if you have achieved a couple of things in life, it is not a call to be so comfortable that you will stop taking steps. The day you stop taking steps is the day you will begin to decline in what you thought was a success before. Success is meant to be a continuous and progressive adventure, not something that you get and then "feel at home." Each phase of achievement calls for a higher and bigger step. When you entered school for example, you passed through the nursery, but you did not stop there. If you had stopped there, no matter the excellent result you had, it will not be remembered in a couple of years. In fact, people might even call you illiterate. So you need to proceed to higher classes. This also happens when you get success; you need to go for something higher afterwards.
Before humans made their way to the near side of moon, humans were already going to the space, and that was a major achievement in astro travel at that time. However, humankind did not stop at just the space, they moved forward to make a move towards the moon. Even when the first crew, the Apollo 1, did not make it through, the Apollo 11 made their own attempt and that was the breakthrough they required. When they finally arrived at the near side of moon, the group Captain, Neil Armstrong, acknowledged that the supposed small step of them will become a giant stride for humankind.
It is worthy to note that you cannot create a footprint while you are sitting at your comfort zone but by taking steps. Imagine if Neil Armstrong and his crew did not take any step, they would not have left a footprint in the history of astro travels. If you are too scared of taking a step or making a move, then you are excluding yourself from growing. Even in the natural, for a seed to grow to become a plant, it has to be planted, then it will move out from the earth, which is not convenient, but is necessary for growth. So also, taking a step from your comfort zone might not be convenient but it is required and necessary.
By stepping out of your comfort zone, you will be motivated for innovation and creativity. I have come to understand that when I take a step, move out and meet people, and then rub minds with them, it unleashes a kind of creativity in me. This is what you get by moving out from your comfort zone, not staying in isolation. Sometimes, the answer to the question you are seeking lies in moving out of your environment. When you take the step, you will be surprised how many other things will fall into place. The step you are scared to take might just be the step that is actually designed to take you to your breakthrough. So do not allow fear to hold you down from taking that step.
Thanks for reading
