Is the comfort zone a friend or foe? A positive or negative?
Some strive for comfort. To be out of the cold. Into the warm. Wrapped in a blanket. Have food in the fridge, a bed to rest your head. Comfort. An end to any suffering. Out of any pain.
What if you've finally reached your comfort zone? For those, the comfort zone is great. A goal. A destination.
You have made it out of the fight or flight. You survived. You have nursed your wounds. You have rested. Recovered to a certain degree. You have reached a comfort you once only dreamed of. It has saved you.
Your cuts have been patched. The scars have formed. Your tissue has thickened.
Now that you have made it out. You are safe. In your zone. Is that where you stay? In this safety net that has brought such solitude? Over time, is it enough to fulfill you? Feed your soul? Are you still considered grateful if it isn’t?
Is it enough to be safe? Where things are... "comfortable"?
Or do you dip your toes outside the ring. Not back into danger. But back into the jarring familiarity of the unknown. Just outside your zone of comfort. Do you push? Do you see what you can become? Can you reach whatever that is by staying safely tucked within your zone?
Or do you venture out? Even just a little? Attempt everything you never thought you could. That you thought you weren't good enough for. That you thought no one would notice. No one would believe. Except you. Having this knowing about who you are. This seedling planted somewhere within your being that you have carried. Held onto. Refused to let go.
This question… what if? A dream so special, so sacred, so you, you could’t bare to ignore. In your heart, you know you wouldn't fail.
Even if you did... would it matter? Knowing you already lived through the worst. You have made it to the other side. Into a comfort. With this dream still in tact. Still worth striving for.
Can you continue to succeed, to grow, in the comfort? Or at some point , do you untuck yourself. Rip off the blanket, the security, and go for it? What would happen if you took the risk? If you tried? If you stepped out? If you jumped?
Do you risk shooting for the stars and missing... or do you stay content in your comfort and stay? Because its cozy. It's safe. Its comfortable.
I believe I have to step out. I must. Inch by inch. Toe by toe. Word by word.
I appreciate the comfort zoneI have landed in. I see everything it has given me. It has healed me. It has protected me. It has nursed me back to health. It is where I have gone to mend. To come back together.
I also know it is no longer needed. Not in the same way it once was.
In order to keep moving forward, to keep growing, to continue becoming, I must keep stepping out beyond what I think I can. Or where I am most comfortable. Past my zone. Into the unknown. Out of what I think I am. Into what I want to be.
A passing of the baton. Trusting I will land where I need. And knowing I will always find my way back home… I always will know to find my way back to the comfort zone. A place I can go to heal.... If I need it. But a place a must continue to constantly venture out from. Just to see ... what if?
