Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

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Do you feel as though you’re stuck in a rut? The routines and habits you’ve developed over the years can be a source of reassurance – and they can be the engine that helps propel you toward your goals. But, every once in a while, it can be a good thing to break out of your comfort zone, and experience a little bit of novelty.

Understand Why Comfort Zones Hold You Back

Routine can help us to feel safe. If we’ve developed the habit of going for a jog every morning, then we might feel reassured when we do so – and slightly anxious when we don’t.

But routine can also limit personal growth. What if the form of exercise that really works for you isn’t jogging, but swimming? If you don’t give yourself the opportunity to experience swimming, and to reconsider your choice of routine, then you might remain trapped in it forever.

Increasingly, we’re choosing to be more mindful of the way that we spend our time, and of the power of habits. Making the right shifts in our lifestyles often means learning where the gains are to be found – and that, in turn, means experiencing something new.

Take on Physical Challenges to Build Resilience

The benefits of exercise are well-documented. But some of them aren’t quite as well appreciated as others. Learning a new physical skill or activity can help you develop qualities and attributes that can be applied to other areas of your life. Pushing through a barrier, for example, might require that you develop discipline – and success might breed confidence and mental fortitude.

The rise of ‘slow fitness’ around the world demonstrates that movement doesn’t have to be extreme to be empowering and transformative. A little bit of exercise, performed intentionally, can often make a big difference. Of course, sometimes a big challenge can be what’s required. Vietnam biking tours might give you a chance to explore a new country – but they’ll also give you a reason to stay active, and in the saddle.

Create New Daily Habits That Push You Forward

So, what kinds of daily habits might we devise? The daily routine naturally kicks off with the morning. Often, it’s at the start of the day that the best opportunities are to be found. You might reconsider your choice of breakfast, or take ten minutes to hand-grind coffee beans and brew the perfect cup of pour-over for you and your partner.

A little bit of challenge can help you to think about things, and avoid the feeling that you’re on autopilot. This is where journaling can be so powerful. The act of writing, and, more importantly, thinking about how the day has gone, can help you to identify sources of dissatisfaction, and potential areas for change.

Step into Emotional Discomfort for Genuine Growth

If you want to grow as a person, then you’ll often need to push through your own fears and anxieties. A budding artist who struggles to render a convincing human hand, for example, might decide to hide the hands in every picture – or, they might embrace the difficulty, and make a point of drawing hundreds of hands from every conceivable angle.

Other sources of anxiety and fear are more commonplace. We all might struggle with withdrawal symptoms when we stash our phones away for a morning – but this is a chance to be strong, and to work towards a future during which we aren’t constantly checking social media.

Explore New Environments to Inspire Change

If you want to build a lasting change, then making your environment a little bit unfamiliar and new can be all that’s required. In the US, there's been a marked rise in fitness travel and wellness-focused retreats. When we change our environment, we disrupt all of those little mental cues that help drive our habits – and, in the process, we make those habits that little bit more easily broken.