I Am Slowly Learning Your Comfort Zone Can Suffocate You

Natalie Allen

I am slowly learning you can't remain in the same space forever. In order to grow, you have to stretch your limits. You have to take a chance on yourself.

Sometimes, when you think you're playing it safe, you're actually holding yourself back. You're actually doing yourself a disservice.

Staying in your comfort zone might make you feel like everything is going to be okay, but you should strive for more than okay. You should try to find the career and partner and home that speaks to your soul. You shouldn't allow yourself to settle in any area.

The problem is, sometimes you don't realize you're settling. You think you're doing the best you can. You think you've already reached your peak. You are so appreciative of what you have that you couldn't imagine life getting any better than it is right now.

But there is always room for improvement, for growth. If you stay in the same place for too long, then you are going to get too comfortable, you are going to forget what it's like to challenge yourself.

I am slowly learning your comfort zone can suffocate you. It's a nice place to stay for a while, but you don't want to stay there forever. You don't want to lock yourself away.

It's easy to forget the life you're living right now doesn't have to be the life you live a year from now. You can make changes at any point. You can move across the country or across the state. You can quit your job or ask for a raise. You can make new friends or walk new paths. You can switch up the routine you have gotten used to following.

Your comfort zone might be consistent and reliable — but it's rarely exciting, exhilarating, challenging. It's rarely going to push you further. It's usually going to keep you stuck in the same place.

Right now, that place might be where you belong. But five years from now, it might not be where you belong anymore.

You can't stay in a situation because of history, because you're used to being there, because you can't imagine doing anything else. Your comfort zone is going to suffocate you if you spend too much time there.

It's easy to assume you're doing the right thing when you've fallen into a comfortable routine. After all, change would mean a period of stress. It would mean disrupting your perfectly average, quiet life. It might be an adventure, but it would also be an inconvenience.

Even though change can be unwanted and intimidating, you can't resist it. Every once in a while, you have to ask yourself whether you're still happy, whether you still feel like you're doing the right thing, whether you want to continue living the way you've been living.

Just because you're comfortable, it doesn't mean you're where you're supposed to be. You might be lingering in the wrong place for too long. You might need to spread your wings right about now.