Three Quick and Quirky Ways to Leave Your Comfort Zone
In this article I’m going to give you three quick and easy ways to leave your comfort zone. If you complete these challenges, you will have stared discomfort and absurdity in the face, and will have learned a thing or two about how your mind responds to being put under pressure. Don’t worry, it doesn’t involve sticking a fork in an electric socket or wrestling alligators, but you should take care if you decide to tackle them.
We all have comfort zones in our lives. This is where we are likely to feel confident and in command of what we are doing/facing. The interesting thing is that everyone’s comfort zone is likely to look different. They are all unique. Mine will appear different to yours because it has been shaped by my life-experiences, worries and childhood events. It’s this uniqueness that I find fascinating. You might be a confident public speaker but terrified of heights. You might be great with insects but have a massive fear of cows (bovinophobia). You might love oysters but can’t bring yourself to eat cheese… There are too many examples to list but hopefully you get the idea.
Knowing there are things that make us feel uncomfortable can be very handy. In fact, we can turn this into a practical exercise. If we choose to use these experiences as a way to train our minds, we can begin to build mental strength every time we leave our comfort zones. Pushing our boundaries by doing things that challenge us is a great way to grow as human beings. Each time we challenge ourselves, we are learning about our personal limits and how we can break through those barriers.
The interesting thing is that although we are likely to have different shaped comfort zones, there are some pretty generic things we can easily do to feel uncomfortable (cue the dramatic music). The three challenges that you’re about to encounter will likely hurl the majority of people out of their comfort zones and into a world of discomfort (both physical and mental). I say the majority because there will naturally be a few people who are fine with this (Spartan warrior sorts). For those of you like this, fear not, I’ll give you a way to make the challenges harder. Aren’t I good to you?
So, try these out and pay attention to what your mind does throughout the process. See how you respond to them and look for what it’s teaching you about mental strength.
Take a cold shower
Start running a cold shower and stand by the edge of the icy spray. Feel the chill coming off the water and notice how your mind starts to tell you that this is a bad idea. Listen to that voice and then ignore it. Get in the shower and fight the shock. Your body will settle after 90 seconds or so (the first minute can be noisy) and you should get a boost of energy from the cold-induced endorphin rush.
Completing this challenge will highlight that you are more powerful than you think. If you can do this, what next? There’s a world of exciting opportunities out there and the greatest barrier to getting those things done is mental resistance. Getting in cold water is all about fighting mental resistance. If you can force yourself into the water, you will be taking control of your mind whilst staring discomfort directly in the face.
Too easy? Try taking an ice-bath. The first time I did this I couldn’t believe how hard it was. This really is difficult.
Eat something unfamiliar
Try an unfamiliar type of food. The bolder the better and the more unappealing the food is to you, the more of a challenge this will be. It’s all a matter of being creative and thinking of things that will push you out of your comfort zone. This will vary for different people but an obvious place to start is with insects. What about ordering some baked tarantulas online? How about some chocolate covered scorpions? There are plenty of options out there. Yummy!
Don’t want to eat insects? No problem. There are loads of vegan/vegetarian choices too so don’t think you can use that as an excuse! Ever tried durian? Well, give this a taste and see what you think (it’s one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten).
Like the last challenge, this is all about dealing with mental resistance. If you can learn to ignore the voice in your head telling you to not eat something, you can learn to ignore it in other situations too. This can then be applied to bigger and more serious things in life.
If you think this is too easy, you don’t need to look far to increase the difficulty. Find something that repulses you (makes you want to throw up) and even the most Spartan of you will feel queasy when attempting to eat it.
Run a mile as fast as you can
If you want to feel uncomfortable, run a mile flat-out. Don’t worry about time; focus on effort. If you can push yourself as much as possible with this, I guarantee that you will struggle. And guess what… struggling is great mental training for us. Learning to deal with hardship is a wonderful skill to develop and can be directly transferred into everyday life situations.
Pushing yourself to the physical limit is something that requires steely determination and Flash Gordon-like power. Well, maybe not the Flash Gordon bit but it does take focus. If you can learn to push through this resistance then you will be strengthening your willpower. It’s amazing how we can build mental strength in such diverse places.
Too easy? Try running two miles flat-out. Still too easy? Try running three miles flat-out. Keep increasing this until you are definitely challenged by the distance and ready to take a nap on the floor.
Why should we bother?
I see great value in forcing ourselves to leave our comfort zones. I truly believe that personal growth can be found at the edges of what we think we’re capable of. This might be learning a new skill or becoming a mentally stronger human being. It might be learning more about who we really are or what our bodies are capable of. There are so many reasons for us to challenge ourselves and I’m a big fan of this philosophy. It’s actually an idea that I’ve been exploring for some time now and have had some great personal results with. I used to experience severe anxiety and panic attacks and used this method (leaving my comfort zone as much as possible) to bring back balance and control to my life. It really did work and I haven’t stopped banging on about it ever since.
I’m confident that these challenges can help you to stretch your limits. I had a lot of fun completing them and hope you get a lot out of them too (even if it’s just a ridiculous story to tell your friends and family).
So, what are you waiting for… Get your running shoes on and head out the door. After your brutal run you can take a cold shower to wash away the sweat. Why not have a nutritional insect snack at the same time? I’d love to know how you get on with this so let me know about your experiences in the comments section below. Remember, comfort zones were made to be left!
“All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone.”