WellbeingNature Connection
Written By Hugh Asher
Understanding the Importance of Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone
6th May 2023
We all have our ‘Comfort Zone’ – those familiar and predictable spaces where we feel at ease, secure, and in control - comfortable! Whether it's a job that you have been doing for a long time, a daily routine, or a close social circle, Comfort Zones offer a sense of stability and familiarity that can be comforting and reassuring. It's where you tend to operate without much effort or stress, and you can predict the outcomes of what you do with a high degree of certainty.
But what happens when you decide to step outside of your Comfort Zone? That's when things get interesting.
In this model, there are two zones that lie beyond your Comfort Zone: the Stretch Zone and the Panic Zone. The Stretch Zone is where you can challenge yourself, learn new skills, and grow as an individual. The Panic Zone, on the other hand, is where you experience too much stress and anxiety, and where you may begin to feel overwhelmed and out of control. In this article, we will explore the three zones and how understanding them can help you push your limits, meet new goals and reach your potential.
Whilst Forest Bathing or connecting with nature for example, it helps to try and move at least a little outside of your Comfort Zone. This might involve:
Going barefoot outside
Standing up to your ankles in running water
Picking up leaf litter from the forest floor and smelling it
Giving a tree a hug!
In keeping with the Forest Therapy theme, we are going to use an illustration of the different zones and the relationship between them using coloured tree growth rings:
The Comfort Zone
Your Comfort Zone is a state of mind where we feel comfortable and safe. It's where we have a sense of familiarity, routine, and control. You feel at ease because you know what to expect and how to handle each situation. However, this also means you're not challenging yourself much, learning new things, or taking risks.
The Comfort Zone is not necessarily a bad thing. It can provide you with a sense of security and stability, and you need to spend time in it to recharge and relax.
But while your Comfort Zones may feel safe and secure, it can also be limiting. Staying in your Comfort Zone keeps you from exploring new opportunities, learning new skills, and growing as an individual. Staying in your Comfort Zone for too long can also lead to boredom, complacency, and a lack of growth. In order to truly thrive, we all need to push ourselves beyond our Comfort Zones and explore what lies beyond.
That's where the Stretch Zones comes in! The Stretch Zone is where you push yourself out of your Comfort Zone and into new territory. I often suggest to people that they try to do at least one thing each day that scares them, at least a little!
The Stretch Zone
The Stretch Zone is the space just beyond our Comfort Zone, where we're challenged and pushed to try new things, take risks, and to step outside of our normal and comfortable routines. It's where we can challenge ourselves, learn new skills, and grow as individuals. It's not always comfortable, but it's where we experience most personal growth and development. This zone is not really a comfortable place – but it is a stimulating one. It is where we stretch and challenge ourselves mentally, emotionally or physically.
When you step into the Stretch Zone, you may feel a little uncomfortable or nervous, but you should not feel overwhelmed or overly anxious. The Stretch Zone is the space where you're willing to take risks, try new things, and happy to learn from your mistakes. The Stretch Zone is where we can all expand our knowledge and skills, and it's an essential part of personal growth.
The great thing about spending time in your Stretch Zone is that when you challenge yourself and take risks, you build your self-confidence and self-esteem, and you also build your self-efficacy.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is a kind of self-belief that usually refers to the confidence that you have in your ability to achieve things. Building and increasing self-efficacy is vital in making the changes in your life that you seek to make. The stronger your belief in your ability to complete a task, the greater effort you will invest in completing it and the more persistent you will be. When you believe that you are capable of achieving the things that you want to, the more likely you are to look for ways to overcome obstacles, whereas when you lack confidence in your own abilities, you are more likely to believe that further effort is pointless and view obstacles as reinforcing your lack of ability to make changes and exert control over your life. Unless a person believes they can achieve their desired changes, they have little incentive to persevere in the face of difficulties and will often give up more easily.
As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think that you can or you think that you can’t, you’re probably right”.
But more than just that, stepping outside your Comfort Zone allows you to discover new passions, interests, and opportunities that you may have never known existed. It expands your horizons, broadens your perspective, and helps you to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.
Of course, stepping outside your Comfort Zone is easier said than done. It often takes courage, determination, and a willingness to embrace the unknown. But by recognising the value of the Stretch Zone, and being mindful of your limits and boundaries, you can gradually expand your Comfort Zone and discover new realms of possibility and growth. Yes! That’s right! The more time that you spend in your Stretch Zone, the bigger your ‘Comfort Zone’ becomes and you often find that your ‘Panic Zone’ shrinks in size to accommodate this as your confidence and self-esteem increase.
While it's important to push ourselves outside of our Comfort Zone, it's equally important to know our limits and recognise when we're in danger of entering the Panic Zone. This is where self-awareness and self-care come into play. By recognising when we're in danger of overextending ourselves, we can take steps to dial back, regroup, and make sure we're taking care of ourselves.
But what happens when we do venture too far outside our comfort zones, and find ourselves in the Panic Zone? The Panic Zone is where we feel out of our depth, overwhelmed, and unable to cope. It's where anxiety, stress, and fear take over, and we may end up feeling like we're in over our heads.
The Panic Zone
The Panic Zone is where you begin to experience extreme stress and anxiety, and you can start to feel completely overwhelmed and out of control. In the Panic Zone you're often not able to function effectively, and you may experience the 3 Fs - Fight, Flight or Freeze. The Panic Zone is not a healthy or productive place to be in, and you should try to avoid spending time in it as much as you can.
The Panic Zone is often triggered when we push ourselves, or get pushed, too far out of our Comfort Zone without proper preparation, support, or guidance. It's important to remember that everyone's Panic Zone is different, and what may trigger panic in one person may not affect another. But it is essential to recognise our limits and respect them to avoid slipping into the Panic Zone.
Unfortunately spending too long in the Panic Zone has the reverse effect of spending time in the Stretch Zone. Our Panic Zone tends to get bigger and our Comfort Zone gets smaller, our self-confidence, self-esteem and self-efficacy take a knock and we find that things that merely stretched us previously may now cause uncomfortable levels of anxiety.
7 Tips for Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
If you are ready to try stepping further outside of your Comfort Zone and into your Stretch Zone, here are some tips to help you get started:
Start Small
Begin with small challenges that push you just slightly out of your Comfort Zone. For example, if you are afraid of public speaking, start by speaking in front of a small group of friends or colleagues before moving on to larger audiences.Set Goals
Identify specific goals you want to achieve and create a plan to achieve them. Write them down and track your progress. This will help you stay motivated and focused.Take Calculated Risks
Taking risks is essential for growth, but it's important to do so in a calculated way. Evaluate the potential risks and benefits before taking action.Embrace Failure
Failure is a natural part of growth and learning. Don't be afraid to fail or make mistakes. Instead, use them as opportunities to learn and improve.Surround Yourself with Supportive People
Seek out people who encourage and support your growth. Avoid negative people who discourage you or hold you back.Practice Self-Compassion
Stepping out of your comfort zone can be challenging and uncomfortable. Be kind to yourself and practice self-compassion. Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a friend.Celebrate Your Successes
When you achieve a goal or overcome a challenge, take time to celebrate your success. This will help you stay motivated and confident as you continue to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Remember, stepping outside of your Comfort Zone is a process that takes time and practice. Be patient with yourself and don't give up. With persistence and determination, you can expand your Comfort Zone, achieve your goals, and experience personal growth and development.
Conclusion
Understanding the three zones can help you push your limits and reach your full potential. You should aim to spend time regularly in your Stretch Zone, where you can challenge yourself and grow as an individual. However, you also need to recognise and understand your limits and avoid slipping into the Panic Zone.
Stepping out of your Comfort Zone can be scary, but it's also where we can find personal growth and development. We should embrace the Stretch Zone, take risks, learn from our mistakes, and push ourselves to reach our full potential. Remember, the only way to grow is to step out of your Comfort Zone!
If you would like support stretching yourself with regard to your nature connection practice and activities, have a look at our Nature-Based Wellbeing Plans where I help you to set goals and support and encourage you to stretch yourself.
If you have enjoyed this article and would like to support what we do by donating £2 or more to buy saplings, please follow the link below:
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Hugh Asher
I’m Hugh and I’m a Certified Forest Bathing Guide and Forest Therapy Practitioner, having trained with the Forest Therapy Institute and the Forest Therapy Hub. My purpose in life is to inspire people to improve their wellbeing, and to help people to help and inspire others to improve their wellbeing. I do this through promoting greater nature connection as I am a passionate believer in the benefits to health and wellbeing that nature and increased connection to nature can bring.
Professionally, I have worked for over twenty years supporting people experiencing: mental health problems; autism; learning disabilities; drug and alcohol problems; school exclusion; experience of the care system; and a history of offending behaviour.
I have a PhD in Therapeutic Relationships, but Dr. Hugh makes me sound too much like a Time Lord.
