Motivation logo

Why is it important to leave our comfort zone?

The comfort zone is a self-creation, it's not a reality.

By Chutisa BowmanPublished 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago 5 min read
1

A comfort zone is a particular form of self-sabotaging. If we live our lives in this way, we're more likely to cause harm to ourselves.

By Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash

Too often we fail to realize that although we might feel secure with the comfort zone in place, we will not be able to generate a phenomenal life. We have no choice but to yield to the level of average, unremarkable, mediocre, and run-of-the-mill.

I'll never forget the moment when I made a deliberate choice to get out of my comfort zone. It's a moment I'll relish forever. I recall where I was sitting, what the room looked like, and what I was doing - I felt slightly uninspired with my work, saying to my husband "There's got to be more to it than this".

My husband asked me “What else could you do if you choose to stop being and doing within the confines of your comfort zone? If you had chosen to fulfill your priority, what could you have achieved?”

The thing is, somewhere along the way, I had lost sight of my priority. But my husband continued to encourage me. He said, "You just have to listen to the call of your priority and trust that everything will work out more than you could ever imagine."

Ironically, I have been so driven by the sheer pace of my busy life that I totally ignored my priority. I was caught up in the 'too busy earning a living' mindset and allowed myself to automatically move through life and randomly bump along into my future. I had totally forgotten that priority is a source for creation.

My husband continued: "Your awareness will guide you, but if you don't start making a different choice, you will always be stuck in your comfort zone."

I knew my husband was right. At the moment I chose to confront and overcome a fear of stepping out of my comfort zone, I felt a wonderful sense of freedom and total liberation. A pretty generative feeling.

One of the hardest things I had to face was my risk aversion. It’s a boundary I’ve created that exists only in my own mind. My inner dialogue was constantly critical. I was chastising myself for past mistakes. I was constantly criticizing myself. The most challenging thing to do was to confront my inner dialogue and step into unknown territory without turning away or cringing.

Staying in my job as a corporate executive would have been the safe thing to do. But I knew in my heart that if I didn't choose to change, it would affect the way I felt about myself forever. That choice actually altered the direction of my life beyond what I ever considered.

At the moment I chose to reactivate my priority, there was an incredible peace. When I acknowledged my priority and what I wanted to make of it, I knew what I could be and do to actualize that in my life. I discovered that when I stepped out of my comfort zone I began to recognize what else was possible.

My priority is to become financially independent. I do not want to be dependent on anyone for my financial well-being.

Taking an active role toward attaining my own financial independence was something I desired to do all of my life. However, my work has been my focus. I have been too busy working so I can pay my bills that I never made time to educate myself about money and finance.

I used to think that the financial system was so complex and beyond my ability (beyond my comfort zone). I abdicated all of the major financial decisions to my husband. I had no experience and no clue about our family's financial affairs. I avoided doing things that were unfamiliar and I clung to things I knew how to do. I settled into a routine and I was on autopilot with money.

It’s incredibly disempowering, as I relinquished the power to manage and grow my finance and to change my money situation to my husband. It's not that I was unintelligent. It's just that I'd never made it my priority to acquire financial knowledge. I was overwhelmed by all the options, unsure of where to start.

I had many reasons and justifications such as - an intense fear of making mistakes and lose all of our money, didn't want to look foolish because I worried about what other people might think or say.

I kept telling myself, “First I need to…”, “I’ll do it when…” I never thought I'd be comfortable managing my own money and finance. I just didn't think it was in me. These were thought patterns that held me back and prevented me from doing what I wanted to do.

Often times I was projecting the worst possible consequences and concluding that the worse would happen. I was eliminating my awareness. That's pretty crazy, isn't it? This mindset alone was the reason why I was hesitating to be a part of the investment world.

I had been prompted to reconsider this mindset and perspective. For me to become financially independent, I had to change the way I thought about risk and leave my comfort zone around money, finance, and investment.

The very first choice I made in the process was to acknowledge what my existing beliefs and fixed points of view were.

Many of my points of view about money and finance were very obscure and ambiguous and I had collected many limiting beliefs about money and finance over the years.

Now I could see it was a huge waste of energy, as I was focusing pointlessly on the limitations I have bought as real and true. All that did was make me very fearful and risk-averse. I quashed new ideas and possibilities in favor of staying secure in my comfort zone.

When I stopped living from projections and conclusions I got to see what was in front of me and I got to change anything. From this space, I began to expand my awareness about myself, about my life, and this reality! With greater awareness, I began to create the life I always knew was possible and hadn't yet created. I started to educate myself, started to play with different aspects of money and investment. I started. And that is what changed everything

Indeed, it took courage to make this change in my financial reality. It took courage to face the unknown.

What I found in my own experience, was that when I made a deliberate choice to get out of my comfort zone ... it was hugely rewarding.

THANK YOU so much for reading 🙏 and if you like my work be sure to leave me a heart below to let me know! 🙏 if you know someone who may enjoy this article...Please share ❤️

self help
1

About the Creator

Chutisa Bowman

Chutisa Bowman is a Pragmatic Futurist, author, creative director, producer and poet. She is best-known for her work in strategic awareness, benevolent capitalism, prosperity consciousness, and conscious leadership.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.