Where Is Your Level Of Comfort?
Where is your level of comfort?
This is a question that my mentor asked me a while ago with regards to me working out. It’s a simple question, but even the most simplistic of questions can make an impact on your life.
They can help you recognize who you are or identify something you never thought possible.
However this question, in question, has a little more importance than others.
It forces you to immediately look at both yourself and your actions.
Why is this a big deal?
The thing with this question is that gets you to think about three particular things all from that one answer you give to this question.
Obviously, you need to find your level of comfort.
Furthermore you need to learn how to step out of it. There are some methods, but I find this one in particular effective.
In essence, the question prompts you to draw line in the sand so to speak.
Even though our own comfort is entirely subjective to those around us and ourselves, it still has a role to play and it’s significant.
Throughout this article I’ll be drawing back to that point. It not only can assist in growth, but also in understanding yourself.
It can do that by raising three key aspects I explain below.
Where Do You Want To Be?
“Are you really happy or just comfortable?” Anonymous
The first thing it raises is another question. Where exactly do you want to be?
It could potentially raise some more as well, but that falls onto the individual.
In the end, this question prompts us to identify a few points. Our current level and where our goals are.
When I was asked that question, it got me to think about my health, specifically my exercising routine. It got me asking about what I was doing, saying, and what I was doing about it.
I’ve played it up as a big thing in my head, and for good reason.
- However my actions weren’t reflecting what I was visualizing.
- The fact I wasn’t hitting it was making it unsettling for me.
- I was in a state where I pushed myself, yet felt like shit because I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do. It’s weird and a bit tough to explain it.
Regardless, when what you want or what you are saying isn’t aligned with what it is that you are doing, there creates a disconnection. It makes you into a hypocrite who just says whatever with little regard to consequences.
But going back to that question, if you ask that, you still have another way to fix this problem.
You still have that line in the sand and in my case I know where I want to go so my thoughts match up with my actions.
What You Want Your Reality To Be
“When was the last time you did something for the first time.” Anonymous
The second thing it does is makes you look at your reality. Sure you could lump this one together with what I said above. After all, where you want to go and where you are right now is your current reality.
But this question makes you look at the specific actions that you are taking. What’s working and what isn’t working.
The first part is only scratching the surface. It tells you where your two points are, or for some people only one point.
This alone tells us what those points mean along with what we are currently doing. I learned I was nothing but shit when I did that.
But again, I had the opportunity to change it, to realign myself back to the reality that I wanted.
The reality to exercise daily.
In order to do something like that you need to make a few steps in adjusting to it.
This could be practicing affirmations, giving yourself a pep talk, convincing your brain this is a good idea.
But thanks to those markers, you have something you can cling to and fall back on. You use them to shape the reality that you want to achieve in your life.
That level you aspire for is the level that stretches your comfort zone from your current level of comfort.
It Gives You A Reason To Break Free
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good and go for the great.” Steve Prefontaine
The last thing is that it gives you a goal to achieve, but also to work past as well.
Of course there is satisfaction in hitting a target you’ve been pursuing.
But why not go farther?
To think that we have limits is foolish as everything can be overcome when you know what to do and are still motivated to work past it.
The line in the sand can be a reason to pursue, to stay, or to exceed it. That choice is ultimately yours to make.
Although I’ve been working hard in improving my health, I want to be doing longer and more intense workouts later on. I don’t have a full idea of what I want to do, but for now I still need to drill in the idea of working out consistently and with the regimen I have, expanding on that as I progress.
That line in the sand is merely a starting line for me. It’s a reason to pursue it so the real growth can begin (even though I have been growing still). Furthermore it’s there where I can pursue something more ambitious.
The stretching of a comfort zone.
That in of itself is liberating for me.
Try This
As you can see from that question alone, three things are raised.
- The question identifies your points in your life. To find them is to look and understand yourself.
- From there, you can get a better idea of where you want to go, what goals you should have, and even how to motivate yourself to do it. You do this by looking into your current reality and find the meaning behind the points and your current actions.
- Lastly, since you know where your current goal is, you can use the achievements from the previous goal as a reward for pushing past.
Growth all stems from our ability to see a goal and have the willingness to pursue it.
To find it is to ask ourselves that one simple question:
Where is your level of comfort?
To your growth!
Eric S Burdon
This post is part of an 3 month writing challenge that I’m committing myself to. Every day for 3 months, I’ll be writing articles with specific criteria in mind. You can learn all about my reasoning as well as what that criteria is right here. This is 48 of 91 of this series.
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