I saw a pin on Pinterest the other day that read, “Your comfort zone will kill you.”
It stopped me dead in my tracks. Ok, maybe it just stopped my endless scrolling. It sure did get my attention!
I realized I agreed with it. Looking back a couple of years ago in my life, I can see how my comfort zone was killing me. Both literally and figuratively.
The word comfort has two meanings:
One is a noun the other is a verb. Lets talk about the noun, the state of comfort.
Isn’t it nice to be in a state of comfort? When I think about comfort, I think about a big comfy bed, with freshly laundered sheets, fluffy pillows and piles of warm blankets. (Can you tell that my mind is already preparing me for winter and my desperate desire to try to be warm!) I also imagine a big cup of piping hot coffee with a good book. Mmmm… that is comfort.
Now you take a minute. Think about comfort. What do you envision?
Are you imagining it? Good. Now picture me bringing you two cheeseburgers, a large Coke and some fries. Along with that I’ll add in five pairs of shoes, a wreath, a smart watch, trampoline for the kids and a new weed wacker. All of that was bought online. We’ll top it off with about 5 glasses of wine, a “sexy” movie playing on a huge TV in front of you and a personal assistant reading you all the latest Facebook posts.
How is your state of comfort now?
Seems kind of chaotic, doesn’t it?
But these things are exactly what we run to when we want to find comfort.
We want to avoid the slightest ping of hunger. We don’t want to deal with our bosses/spouse/mother/child being upset. We don’t want to face our restlessness or boredom.
We want to feel comfort and happiness IMMEDIATELY!
What we don’t realize until later is we sacrificed long-term comfort for a short-term dopamine hit that actually makes us more uncomfortable in the long run.
And then the cycle repeats.
Now, none of these will kill you… immediately. But we really need to look at the long-term, net, positive and negative consequences.
So, lets imagine what it would be like to give up the short-term comfort zone for long-term comfort.
Can you see the long-term net consequences such as:
Sign me up!
Here’s the funny thing, you have to give up IMMEDIATE comfort for ENDURING comfort.
That comes down to a choice. It’s a choice you must make in a split second.
So how do you accomplish this? Do you feel it’s too automatic? Like you might not even be able to control it?
You can! Here are a couple of ways how…
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” James 1:2-4
So, let yourself face the uncomfortable trials head on and develop that perseverance to keep moving forward.
Are you too comfortable but uncomfortable right now? Do you struggle with committing to your goals and following through? Perfect! You're not alone and that's my expertise. Sign up for a FREE consult with me here.
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