Comfort zone meaning a situation where one feels safe or at ease.
Comfort zone is a place, situation, or level where someone feels confident and comfortable.The comfort zone is the zone in which an individual feels comfortable. There is no fear or discomfort. The person feels at home, comfortable and safe.
While new experiences can cause pause and trepidation (a feeling of fear or anxiety about something that may happen)., keeping in one's comfort zone inspires confidence and limits anxiety. When you've succeeded in the past on a task, it promotes a healthy self-assurance in addressing similar undertakings in the future.
The comfort zone is a psychological state in which a person feels at ease because they're not being tested. Inside the comfort zone, people don't typically engage in new experiences or take on any challenges. They only participate in activities that are familiar, making them feel “in control” of their environment.
"In fact, you want to have the largest comfort zone possible -- because the larger it is, the more masterful you feel in more areas of your life. When you have a large comfort zone, you can take risks that really shift you."
Our comfort zone, according to Britten, is our safe place.
Brené Brown describes comfort zone as"Where our uncertainty, scarcity and vulnerability are minimized—where we believe we'll have access to enough love, food, talent, time, admiration. Where we feel we have some control."
Bardwick defines comfort zone as "a behavioral state where a person operates in an anxiety-neutral position."
When you choose to stay in your comfort zone, you participate in familiar activities. You perform tasks you've completed repeatedly, and likely with a track record of success. Staying in your comfort zone allows you to draw on experience you've gained from past performances, in areas you undoubtedly know well.
People stay in their comfort zone to avoid feelings of anxiety or stress, and pain. Anything outside the comfort zone creates uncertainty, and uncertainty makes us feel anxious. Naturally, human beings are wired to avoid these feelings.
According to Dr. Abigail Brenner, a San Francisco-based psychiatrist, a comfort zone “is a psychological/emotional/behavior construct that defines the routine of our daily life” that “implies familiarity, safety, and security.”
While we’ve mostly heard teachers, coaches, and other motivators encourage us to push our boundaries and try activities outside our usual limits, there are compelling reasons to both stay in and leave our comfort zones.
The Pros and Cons of comfort zone:
*The pros of staying in your comfort zone are as follows:
•Drawing on experience:
When you choose to stay in your comfort zone, you participate in familiar activities. You perform tasks you’ve completed repeatedly, and likely with a track record of success. Staying in your comfort zone allows you to draw on experience you’ve gained from past performances, in areas you undoubtedly know well.
•Being confident:
While new experiences can cause pause and trepidation, keeping in one’s comfort zone inspires confidence and limits anxiety. When you’ve succeeded in the past on a task, it promotes a healthy self-assurance in addressing similar undertakings in the future.
•Minimizing risk:
When you tackle familiar tasks in your comfort zone, you’re aware of the risks and know how to avoid them. Familiar activities tend to be less risky than unknown ones.
•Rejuvenating:
After you’ve pushed yourself outside of your typical boundaries, returning to your comfort zone can help you reinvigorate and psychologically recuperate before returning to more anxiety-inducing and uncertain situations.
•Expending less energy for routine tasks:
If an activity is in your comfort zone, chances are you can complete it quickly and easily without too much forethought or planning. The ease of routine tasks frees up more time and mental energy for addressing challenging work.
Without a doubt, there are convincing reasons to spend time in your comfort zone. However, breaking free of these constructs can also be enticing.
*The cons of staying in your comfort zone include:
•Holding back:
If you stay in a comfort zone too long, it can make you complacent. If you don’t perform activities that somewhat scare or challenge you, you miss out on growth opportunities. In physics, Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion dictates that “a body at rest will remain at rest unless an outside force acts on it, and a body in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.”
• Translated to comfort zones:
You can’t make progress by keeping still.
No risk, no reward
Perhaps it’s an overused phrase, but for good reason: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” If you don’t try something new, you won’t succeed at anything new. Big rewards come to those willing to take risks, even if they aren’t large ones.
•Not learning new skills:
If you only work on current strengths, you neglect the chance to develop new skills. In taking on risks, you work on new skills and spend time,improving relative weaknesses.
•Missing the opportunity to to expand your comfort zone :
One of the most compelling reasons to push outside of your usual boundaries is to stretch your comfort zone. When you take risks, embrace some discomfort and doubt, and succeed, you not only improve your overall skill set, but you boost your confidence. The more you try challenging activities, the more normal those tasks become, broadening your comfort zone to larger and larger dimensions.
To make the most of the comfort zones in your life, you must learn to balance time in and outside of them. For personal growth, it’s necessary to take risks and endure some ego discomfort however, it’s also important to spend time healing and contemplating in the nurturing environs of your comfort zone. Being aware of your comfort zone boundaries is a great first step—and as time passes, you can expand that space to embrace more activities and experiences.
Your comfort zone is like a muscle – keep growing and stretching it! Once you have created this new reality, you need to push yourself beyond your new comfort zone, so that your never-ending cycle of personal growth continues. Yes, I know it can be scary, and it feels comforting to do the things we have always done.
Your comfort zone is the space (real, or in your mind) that you have carved out for yourself that makes you feel safe. To say that life begins at the end of your comfort zone means that you have to leave your safe space to really experience what life has to offer you.
*Some popular Quotes on Comfort zone:
“People tend to play in their comfort zone, so the best things are achieved in a state of surprise, actually.”
“It's good to feel stupid sometimes and do things that are out of your comfort zone.”
“I like doing things that make me uncomfortable. I try not to have a comfort zone.”
A comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing grows there.
All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.
Step so far outside your comfort zone that you forget how to get back.
If you want something you've never had, then you've got to do something you've never done.
“Have great hopes and dare to go all out for them.
“If you can't fly then run; if you can't run then walk; if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
Information compiled by:
Dr. Bhairavsinh Raol
