The process of making diamonds is unique; it must withstand hundreds and thousands of pressures beneath the Earth’s surface for its carbon atoms to merge. The same principles apply to humans. To grow in strength and prosperity, we must undergo pressure and discomfort by stepping outside our comfort zone.
When you look ten years into the future, you dream of success, a happy family, and a desirable amount of wealth. Though it may seem simple, achieving these aspects of life is more challenging than we think.
To find our loving spouse, we must step outside of our comfort zone and be the first to initiate a conversation. To get that dream job, we must work on our weaknesses and learn new skills to become appealing candidates.
There are introverts and extroverts, but whichever you are is not an excuse to avoid stepping outside your comfort zone. Even the social extroverts still have things they could work on. If you lack the ambition to achieve goals, let this article remind you of the greatness that awaits in discomfort.
In this article, we uncover the reasons why stepping outside of your comfort zone is a must.
1. You become self-loving
The best and most important form of love you can have is with yourself. Devastatingly, many people live unable to find happiness because they lack self-love. They wake up every day, complain, and nag about how miserable their life is when they’ve done nothing to change it.
By stepping outside your comfort zone, you develop self-love because of your willingness to take risks. It’s not easy making decisions when you don’t know the outcome, but the fact that you did it anyway is something you will be proud of.
2. Brings long-lasting memories
We make decisions thinking it will make us happy when, realistically, it’s contributing to the meaninglessness of our lives. Scrolling through social media for hours, eating junk food, staying up late—these decisions keep us in our comfort zone. These daily decisions that make us feel good aren’t creating memories—they’re creating regrets—regrets we will later question in life.
Decisions that make us uncomfortable and yield a higher risk of return create memories we will never forget: memories we will always look back at with a smile and delight. Inviting a beautiful girl on a date or offering to help someone in need are decisions that force us out of our comfort zones, yet are memories we will hold on to throughout life.
3. Puts your weaknesses into the spotlight
One of the ways a mechanic knows a car needs an oil change is by looking at the oil dipstick. Metaphorically speaking, checking the dipstick is the same idea as stepping outside your comfort zone. You will discover your weaknesses by being outside of your comfort zone for the first time.
If one of your weaknesses is talking to strangers, how will you know that’s your weakness if you remain silent all the time?
Stepping outside our comfort zone also exposes the weaknesses we probably never knew we had. Then, by recognizing our weaknesses early, we allow ourselves to improve on them over time.
4. Allows you to improve on your weaknesses
Not only does stepping outside our comfort zone bring our weaknesses to light, but it also helps us improve them. However, this can only make a difference if we consistently do the uncomfortable.
By stepping into unfamiliar territory, we put ourselves in an environment where we must learn and adapt. Humans have always been adaptive creatures, so we will naturally start to grow and adopt the skill set needed to succeed.
5. Increases confidence
Stepping outside our comfort zone makes us more confident for two reasons: we gain experience doing the unknown and appreciate ourselves afterward for facing discomfort to grow.
Jessica A. Kent from Harvard University wrote, “Accomplishment brings self-confidence, especially if you worked hard, challenged yourself, and saw it through.”
Self-love has always been the foundation of confidence. When we love ourselves for who we are, we feel confident being ourselves.
6. Makes life happier
Video games are fun because you never settle for average. You’re continuously leveling up and moving up in rank instead of staying stationary where you are.
Stepping outside our comfort zone is essentially the same as leveling up at the game of life. We put ourselves in uncomfortable situations and exit the other side better than we were before. Leveling up in life adds meaning to our lives because it pushes us towards the direction of success.
For other ways to find happiness in life, read here.
7. Reduces anxiety
Anxiety and skepticism is a natural reaction from the body when doing something for the first time. It’s a natural human tendency to desire safety and comfort; thus, we all struggle with finding the drive to step outside our comfort zone.
Bruce Lee once said, “Practice makes perfect.” One of the reasons for this is because repetition builds confidence. The more we practice, the more experience we gain. As a result, this reduces anxiety as our previous exposures keep us at ease since our bodies have faced the same discomfort before.
Conclusion
We hate the thought of discomfort because we naturally crave comfort and safety. The problem is living in comfort hinders our ability to grow and see what we’re capable of. Stepping outside the comfort zone looks different for everyone, as we all have distinct weaknesses. Regardless, putting ourselves in unfamiliar territory is the necessary ingredient for growth.
What scares you the most about stepping outside of your comfort zone?
