The Comfort Zone Challenge – Experience A Fun Change

The Comfort Zone Challenge. What kind of challenge could this be? It already sounds pretty scary, I’m sure.

We already know it’s something that’s going to be challenging. What’s worse, though, is that it seems to imply we’re about to get uncomfortable… If that’s what you’re gathering from this, you’re absolutely right.

Why would I make a challenge designed to make you uncomfortable, anyway? Because being uncomfortable can be a GOOD thing! This may seem strange at first, but being uncomfortable is where growth can emerge from.

I have made some serious strides in changing my life by getting really, really uncomfortable. You might know what I’m talking about here.

When you’re too comfortable, that likely means you’re staying exactly where and how you were yesterday. When you’re challenging yourself to push beyond your limits, however, you have to make peace with being a little uncomfortable first!

Most of us rarely venture from our comfort zones.

We perform the same actions and create situations that are comfortable and familiar to us. Even if, deep down, we know that it’s only perpetuating pain in our lives. Clearly, it hasn’t been enough pain to change it yet!

Until now, when you’re reading this, perhaps? Well, that’s up to you. Unfortunately, life doesn’t change until our actions change.

New activities frequently fall outside of your comfort zone. Since people actually look for certainty and comfort in just about everything in life, this can be a bit of a problem. It appears that we need to choose between comfort and personal growth.

In this comfort zone challenge, you will learn personal growth tips that you can so right now to experience a real change in your life today.

Personal growth is for the brave at heart, because this type of growth most certainly won’t happen if your life if you’re still stuck in fear!

Besides the need to grow, humans inherently crave variety in their lives. Life can get pretty boring when we don’t try to mix things up from time to time, and you don’t want to be boring, do you?

Even if you try something new, and the result is negative in some way, you can walk away from the experience feeling glad that you tried it at all. Better yet, you can have something interesting and new to talk about with coworkers, friends, and family.

You can share your experience, and tell them what you thought of it. You could even say whether or not you recommend it, or what you’d have done differently to enjoy it more. Just because you did it, you already know more than someone else who hasn’t!

Get started right now with the Comfort Zone Challenge!

As a suggestion, 7 days would be a great place to begin, but you can feel free to step it up to something new every day for 21 or even 30 days.

As you begin to embrace variety, you may even find that you want to make it a permanent part of your lifestyle.

Try these tips to take new actions and see positive changes in your life:

1. Make some new media habits. Where you get your information in the digital age is endless. Let’s change it up a bit, and read a different type of book than you normally read. Make it a physical book instead of digital this time, or the other way around.Listen to a new type of music. Watch a movie or TV show that you would’ve never considered before. Shake things up a little bit by watching and listening to something new.
2. Try new foods. Humans need to have variety in life. Even with food. Have you ever tried Indian or Korean food? Download a restaurant app on your phone, or use Yelp to plug in a search for an ethnic food that you have never tried.Try being vegan for a day or a week. Browse the wide variety of vegan recipe blogs out there to find some easy, doable ideas. If you do it long enough to discover a difference in the way you feel, maybe you’ll accidentally discover that you needed to do this all along!
3. Shake up your other routines. Maybe try waking up earlier than usual. Take a completely different route to work for a week. Meditate each evening for a month. Take your lunch to work instead of going out to a restaurant. Start taking crossfit instead of your normal pumping iron workouts.
4. Take the comfort zone challenge to a new level. The sole purpose of a comfort zone challenge is to increase your resistance to social judgement. Let’s STOP caring what people think… You will build your courage and confidence in the process. 

   Dare to overdress for the grocery store. Strike up a conversation with a stranger about anything that comes to mind. Be bold!

Comfort zone challenge examples include:

• Dance your way across a crosswalk instead of walking.
• Lip-synch dramatically in the grocery store when one of your favorite songs comes on the radio. Pick up a bottle of cooking wine and sing into it like a microphone. Share your inner child with the people around you and see what happens!
• Walk through the mall with your shirt on backwards. Choose the most obvious shirt you can for this. Try to see how many stares, double-takes, and even triple-takes you get! Make an event out of it and record their reactions on the sly!
• Start a conversation with a very attractive man or woman. Be brave enough to even compliment their eyes – they will be flattered that you even looked through the ‘windows to their soul’. Find a way to make a stranger feel special today!
• Say hello to everyone you pass on the sidewalk. You may be the friendliest face they’ve seen all day.

5. Start with small changes. Big changes are scary. Make a small change in your life, and take things a little further each week. If you’re afraid of heights, look out a second story window. Next week, try the third floor.Several small changes are as effective as a single, larger one. This is easier than the comfort zone challenge, but much slower. One of the basic human needs is growth. As long as you keep growing every day, it doesn’t matter how slow you go!
6. Understand the benefits of getting outside your comfort zone. Studies have shown that maximum productivity and performance happen during times of low to moderate stress. Stress helps us focus and perform. Being too comfortable actually creates challenges.By stepping outside of what’s comfortable, you’ll learn to deal with stress and uncertainty more efficiently. By daring to face the extra stress that may come with changing a part of your day, you’ll be better able to manage stress when it naturally arises.

7. Visit somewhere new. Drive a few extra minutes to visit a new cafe for your cup o’ joe instead of the usual location. Chat up the barista and stay for a little while to soak up the new atmosphere.Spend the night in a new town. Choose a middle-of-the-road, fairly priced three-star hotel for your stay, so that you have enough money for trying new restaurants, because this is for the sake of experiencing something different rather than just a vacation to pamper yourself.

   Or, you could try camping in the mountains. Rent an RV for a week or two, clean it up, and drive to a landmark you’ve always wanted to see!

8. Learn strategies to deal with being uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable isn’t always a good reason not to do something. Learn yoga, meditation, or another stress reducing technique. Apply it whenever you’re feeling stressed. The more you practice trying new things and managing the overwhelm that might come with it, it won’t be long before you can confidently do and experience new things regularly!

A little fortitude can totally change your life. Try to change things up a little more often. It’s alright to be uncomfortable, because you’ll grow and learn from the experience.

Your bucket list shouldn’t have to wait until you’re old, weary, and feeling rushed to do it all before you’re gone – try to fit in a little of it at a time.

The comfort zone challenge helps you bust free from being too passive, and will help you live your life from a new perspective. Your comfort zone will trap you if you let it.. I invite you to comment below what you’ve done or plan to do for your comfort zone challenge.

As always, I invite you to leave a comment below. Whether you’d like to share your own insight, or just tell me about how this post inspired you, I’ll be happy to respond as soon as I can!