“A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.”
– John Assaraf, Researcher
The idea of sticking to a comfortable life appeals to many people, the primary reason behind it is the effort and ingenuity that goes behind creating this life that seems comfortable and prosperous to them. This is the reason we see a lot of people remaining in a relationship or job that they aren’t really happy about. Unfamiliarity or change intimidates many people, causing great hindrance to their personal and professional growth. But, we must realize that at some point in life, the right thing to do is letting go of our fears, breaking away from conformity and pursuing better things regardless of the risks they pose.
Sitting in the same spot and doing the same thing every single day is easy, and its human tendency to always do what’s easy. Choosing to live the comfortable life is settling for who you are today, which usually is a lot different than who you really want to be in life. The comfortable habits that you have developed over the years may look fine to you today but without letting go of comfort you can never progress to the next level, you may never become who you really want to be. If you’re out of those people living in the comfort zone, beware – the problem with the comfort zone is that it’s pleasing and doesn’t hurt at all, it feels amazing while you’re in it and you seldom realise how deep you’re already into it.
The key ingredient for a happy life is growth, it’s the joy that you feel while progressing towards your full potential, and that progress will only happen when you step out of your comfort zone. Growing is about moving, taking risks, gaining new experiences and all of this will never belong to your comfort zone. So as long as you’re dwelling on a comfortable life, you’re not growing.
If you continue living in the comfort zone for very long, there will come a time in your life when you will give up or compromise on your dreams and goals and choose to settle for what you have. This is the worst fate of all, because even though you’re alive all you desires and dreams are dead, there is nothing you want to pursue or achieve. Now when you come across an amazing opportunity in life, you’ll begin to pull back because you fear losing access to your little comfortable world.
The truth is that life is unpredictable and you never know what’s coming next. It’s important to always be ready for change and never get too comfortable with anything. For some reason, the society has conditioned us to believe that personal comfort is the end goal of everyday life, but this same everyday comfort keeps us away from discovering our full potential and chasing dreams we never even can imagine. Comfort zones need to be exploited, our goal as an individual shouldn’t be to seek comfort but to seek perpetual growth. That’s how we would thrive and discover true happiness.
