40+FAB Blog

Get out of your comfort zone they said, but I have come to realise that my comfort zone has never been the problem. The truth is we all desire to live a life that is, well, a little bit more comfortable. If this were not the case we would be happy in our economy class flight, we would stick with our Nokia 3310 phone, we would drive our 1983 automobile, we would eat our mass produced average grade meal. In reality, we are actually striving to get into a comfort zone. The real problem is the familiar zone. This is what we are used to, what we know and the way we think. In 2011, I was stuck at a job going on 7 years, barely getting by financially and needing a change desperately. That zone was definitely not comfortable, but I stayed with it because it was familiar. The familiar zone is seldom ever comfortable just as a comfort zone could sometimes be unfamiliar. I was scared of the unknown so it took months before I had the boldness to reach for something unfamiliar to make progress. After consultations with friends and going on a training course, something shifted in my thinking and expectations, then not too long after I was at a much better paying job. It takes great effort, and help from others who have much bigger experiences, to break out of the familiar zone. What is comfortable is usually on the outside and the familiar is on the inside. As the saying goes, you may take a man out of the slum (to comfort), but may not have taken the slum (familiar) out of the man. Strive to get out of your familiar zone and watch what progress you will make in settling into a more comfortable zone.