Mental health - Leave the comfort zone

           Release yourself and strengthen your confidence

Fear of the unknown often limits us to take the decisive step and change life situations that make us dissatisfied or unhappy. How to get rid of it?

How many times have we promised ourselves – I will start tomorrow?

Tomorrow I start exercising because I want to lose weight, tomorrow I start working on confidence because I want to speak without fear in meetings, tomorrow I am leaving a toxic relationship that makes me unhappy….

But when tomorrow comes, and somehow we're just not in the mood to take that decisive step. As soon as we take ourselves outside the comfort zone, we are overcome by the fear of the unknown, so we quickly return to the well-known walls of routine and inertia. Sometimes it is easier for us to stay in the zone and be dissatisfied than to leave it and risk any failure.

According to evolutionary psychology, fear of the unknown is one of our fundamental fears - being in the well-known territory in our minds creates a sense of control. It is no wonder that jumping into the unknown seems daunting and unnecessary to us; creating a comfort zone is our natural aspiration. But the natural aspiration is also to leave the zone when we feel that the time has come for growth, development, and progress.

So, how can we dispel prejudices and fears of the unknown?

Stepping out of your comfort zone will boost your confidence

When we step into the unknown, we are forced to discover new parts of ourselves, our resources that we were not even aware of until now. We may find that in the absence of routine forms and automated actions, for example, we are excellent negotiators, organizers, that we learn quickly, or that we are very resourceful. All of this strengthens our confidence and belief that we will be able to cope with other life challenges more easily.

Face the fear in "small steps"

Much of the resistance to the unknown lies in our fear that we will not be able to cope with new circumstances, that we will fail. However, if we base our entire lives on trying to escape from failure and surround ourselves solely with well-known situations - can we ever move forward and reach our potential?

No one says that step outside the comfort zone has to be huge. We can start daily by changing ourselves and our environment a little. If, for example, we want to be able to speak without fear in big business meetings, we do not need to immediately fire ourselves in a meeting with management. We can start by working on our confidence in general, reading the literature on the subject, trying to discuss in less stressful office meetings. It may not be perfect immediately, but that's not the point. Being authentic, expressing yourself and saying something your way is what is most appreciated. And we don't have to be perfect speakers.

What is our goal in getting out of our comfort zone?

Before deciding on any moves, it is a good idea to determine the goal we want to achieve. In this way, we will be able to remind ourselves of our motives, even when fear arises that pulls us back into the familiar. And once we take that first step, we often see that it's not as scary as we imagined.

It was written somewhere that at the end of life, people have more regrets for what they have not done than for what they are. 

Being able to leave the comfort zone is not a gift, an ability innate to a few. It is a skill that can enrich our private and business lives. Therefore, it is worth adopting it as much as possible.