Hi! I'm Mako, a Be-event intern at su-re.co who has just started working as one of gifemakers last month. This time, I'm going to look at the common conception of "getting out of the comfort zone" from a different, sort of unique perspective.
Try to speak up without hesitating, nobody really judges you by your mistakes.
That's what I was always mentioning while the last su-re.co's international program, OnlineAct! Batch5. I participated in the Act Batch4 and attended Batch5 as an assistant to Japanese students. At that time, I simply tried motivating each of them to just throw away their fears and try to immerse themselves into the topic they were about to learn during the course. I believed that from the bottle of my heart, just challenging everything you're curious about is a good thing. I sincerely thought it would give me a chance to grow further, and get comfortable with being "uncomfortable".
getting out of your comfort zone
Probably this is what you hear a lot when you look up something motivational on Youtube. I did actually, and thousands of researchers, thinkers were rambling about Why life sucks for most people and How billionaires succeeded in which most of them ended up talking about the same thing, getting out of the comfort zone.
(here, you can find a concept of Growth Zone, which states the relations between Comfort Zone and fears)
BUT lately, there has been a slight but great viewpoint that came up to my mind. What if someone tries too hard to challenge his/herself and loses how that person originally was like? What if we challenge too much and forget where our comfort zones are?
I'll give you a concise example to grasp the situation.
Suppose you are a student and the smartest of all classes. You know the time management tips, efficient ways to study, pretty much like an expert of study. You wanted something more stimulus in your life and started new projects for yourselves. Not just one, but more than 5.
If I were that student, every time I face challenging moments, I would be talking to my heart, " Fears doesn't mean anything! Get ready to open up your mind more!"
What do you think would happen to this student??
Here's my thought.
She/he must be super duper excited about all the Brand New moments happening in its life. Eventually, however, the student would get less motivated as opposed to all the "inspiring" videos on Youtube or TEDTalks.
I can tell this for sure because I'm the one who has been struggling with this dilemma. Previously, I had my study&workout routines that perfectly fit my well-being. Recently, quite often times I'm in NOWHERE. I'm in charge of being the leader of multiple projects at the same time as being a student at school. Of course I 100% enjoy what I do as an extracurricular, but there has been too demanding and it is beginning to affect my physical health sometimes as well.
Nobody( at least on the Internet) seems to have a positive mindset on keeping our Comfort zones. What I take as important learning from the experience these days is, I can explore and try to make myself challenge more, as long as I'm capable of reminding myself of where I was at the first place, the comfort zone I was in.
Thank you so much for reading!!
Questions for everybody: What are your comfort place, music or any moment you feel safe and
peaceful?
Mine is StudioGhibli music, cooking time and wooden buildings like su-re.co's office.
(would love to visit there someday hopefully;) )
I second what Fabian said. If you want to grow, you need to take care of yourself. I really know what you experience, since a few years ago, I also did it. But I think, if you want to grow, you will know when and where you'll take a rest and also focus on yourself.
I love cooking, reading, and watching. Those are my comfort moment :D
After chaotic days, I prefer to have me time when nobody will disturb me. I guess that's the introvert side of me. But, I also like to talk to other people to know different perspectives of many things so I can also learn from them.
I think I understand your point and experience when you "overcommit" to the point that you are "going nowhere fast", as I've been there several times 😅. However, I'd argue that you're still in the learning zone if you forget to take care of yourself. In the same way, comfort zones don't necessarily mean having a "balanced life". I think people tend to consider comfort zones as "negative" because that's when you are imbalanced and stagnant. In my opinion, to enter the growth zone means being able to move forward and live life without much compromise to your mental and physical health. Regardless, what an interesting perspective! Definitely a blog that made me think and reflect 😊. I also love Sutdio…