Sometimes, you need to leave your comfort zone

Sometimes, you need to leave your comfort zone

Happiness can be … calm and contentment and satisfaction.

But happiness can also be … achievement and excitement and joy.

The latter types of happiness frequently come from stepping out and doing something different; which means that some types of happiness require leaving your comfort zone and taking some risks…

via the Ladders by Gustavo Razzetti

Your life is waiting at the other side of your comfort zone.

Inspirational quotes encourage you to do something you wouldn’t normally do — you are missing out on life, they tell you.

However, crossing the line of your comfort zone is not easy — science shows that experimenting new things makes everyone anxious and worried.

The paradox of the FOMO approach is that, rather than neutralizing the fear, it creates more anxiety — those who are afraid of uncertainty get more stressed out.

What if you could stretch beyond your comfort zone on your own terms? Not because someone else pushes you to do so.

First, you must get rid of the dualistic approach — being comfortable is not the opposite of living dangerously.

Meet your comfort zone

“Discomfort may be a doorway; don’t run from it.” ― Joseph Deitch

According to Merriam-Webster, our comfort zone is the level at which one functions with ease and familiarity. The term was originally coined after the temperature range within which most people feel comfortable, and feel neither cold nor hot (68 to 72 °F or 20 to 22 °C).

The comfort zone is a psychological state where one feels safe or at ease and without stress or anxiety.

Judith Bardwick, the author of “Danger in the Comfort Zone,” defines the term as “a behavioral state where a person operates in an anxiety-neutral position.” It’s a perceived certainty where we believe we have access to all we need — we feel we have some control.

This neutral state is both natural and human — our brain is lazyand leans toward the easiest path. We can continue living on autopilot or embrace discomfort to reap bigger rewards. Simply put: do you want just to live or to thrive?

Research has demonstrated that a state of relative comfort creates a consistent and steady performance. However, relative anxiety — a state where our stress level is higher than normal — can maximize your performance. Conversely, too much anxiety drops your productivity off.

The challenge is finding what Robert Yerkes and John Dodson called “Optimal Anxiety” — the sweet-spot between arousal and performance.

The Hebbian version of the Yerkes–Dodson law

…keep reading the full & original article HERE