How do you define your comfort zone?
The dictionary says it’s the place where “you feel comfortable and your abilities are not being tested.” In a second definition, the comfort zone is the place where “you don’t have to do anything new or different.”
Examples include internet surfing, drugs and alcohol, pornography, the aptly named “comfort food.” Even gambling and shopping are pleasures of a sort. All these behaviors are widespread—our entire culture is looking for a Comfort Zone. Whatever your Comfort Zone consists of, you pay a huge price for it.
Life provides incredible possibilities, but you can’t take advantage of them without facing pain. If you can’t tolerate pain, you can’t be fully alive. There are many examples of this. If you’re shy and avoid people, you lose the vitality that comes with a sense of community.
If you’re creative but can’t tolerate criticism, you’ll never reach people who could appreciate (and fund) your work. If you’re a leader and can’t confront or set limits with people, no one will follow you.
By staying in the Comfort Zone you end up relinquishing your most cherished dreams and aspirations. Oliver Wendell Holmes in “The Voiceless” put it best: “Alas for those that never sing, / But die with all their music in them.”
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