How to get out of your comfort zone
Being brave is an important part of living a New Happy life: so much of what we want to do and be requires us to tap into our inner courage. And yet the way we construe and approach our challenges can have a huge impact on whether or not we are able to be brave.
Here’s one way you can help yourself to be braver: instead of thinking of what you want as being ‘outside of your comfort zone’, think of it instead as the next step on your journey.
If you’re in a comfort zone, and the thing you want is outside of it, it feels like a *huge* leap you have to make. A zone is containing you; you’re either in or you’re out, and that leap from what’s known into the great scary unknown can make it feel even more overwhelming.
Instead of thinking of that thing you want as outside of your comfort zone, try thinking about it instead as the next step on your path. You’re on the road — it’s something that you are moving towards already. You don’t have to do anything new, you just have to keep going and keep moving a little bit closer.
The motivating question changes, from “How can I force myself to make this big, scary leap?” to “What’s one thing I can do to move a little bit closer to what I want?” We know from the research that courage and fear co-exist. With this framing, you can bring courage to the forefront to help make your next step a little bit easier.
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