Have you found your growth to be stagnant? Does trying something new make you anxious? Do you always pick the easier choice? If your answer to all these questions is a yes, then you are deeply nested in a comfort zone.
A comfort zone can be best described as a psychological state that a person creates for themselves where they are at ease. It not just encapsulates restrictions set on daily routine but also restricts their way of thinking. Somebody who is said to be in their comfort zone are considered chained but the question that arises is that if this person feels safe and at peace in this psychological bubble, why should we encourage him to break out of it?
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the most important necessity of a person revolves around physiological and survival needs that includes food, clothing and shelter. Next in line of importance is security needs which talks about the feeling of being safe and secure. The hierarchy then continues to list out social mental and spiritual needs in respective order of importance. Notice here that the need to feel safe comes right after the most important survival needs. A person is not going to get anywhere when he continuously feels anxious. In addition to being incompetent in the work he does, it would also take a toll on his mental health. Keeping all this in mind, one would wonder, why then is ‘coming out of your comfort zone’ so vigorously encouraged?
As it had been established earlier in this article, the comfort zone is created by no one else but the person himself. In the same way that he created his comfort zone in the first place, it should be possible to increase the size of the comfort zone as well. There is an area called the optimal anxiety present just outside the comfort zone. The optimal anxiety is a lot different from the injurious anxiety. When you are in your comfort zone, you will eventually realize that there is no other aspect in your life that you are yet to discover or learn from. In this case, your growth, due to lack of exploration, will be stunted. When you decide to slightly push your boundaries and step up to take even the smallest of risk, is when you will experience optimal anxiety. Optimal anxiety is actually a motivational tool to increase your performance and hence inch a little out of the comfort zone. It is that little nudge that is very important for anyone who has their eye on a goal. The injurious anxiety is what happens when you step out of the threshold of optimal anxiety. In that area, you feel insecure and it only deteriorates your performance.
Taking baby steps out of the comfort zone guarantees slow yet steady progress. It doesn’t mean that one has to keep stepping out of their comfort zone and keep increasing its radius. The person can decide whether to stay in the comfort zone for some time or keep going in and out. After all, it is the person himself who can figure out what makes him feel comfortable and when he feels ready to take risks.
“[Then] when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in Allah: Allah loves those who put their trust in Him. If Allah helps you [believers], no one can overcome you. if he forsakes you, who else can help you? Believers should put their trust in Allah. [The Qu’ran 3: 159-160]”
