How to Break Free of Your Comfort Zone

The heat sneaks up on you like a bad rash. You’re warm and then you feel the perspiration as it trickles down your back or your brow. Anxiety about how uncomfortable you appear causes your heart to speed up as your palms become clammy and your breathing grows more and more shallow.


Next thing you can’t feel your fingertips and your having a hard time getting a good, deep breath. Before you start hyperventilating know that you’re not dying. You’re just having an anxiety attack. Millions of people suffer from them. While the cause is anyone’s guess, one big motivating factor is social anxiety, that unease you feel when you’re outside of your comfort zone.

Thankfully, being outside our comfort zone doesn’t result in debilitating physical symptoms for all of us. But the effects can be equally weakening on our hearts and souls. Another day goes by and your same old, same old has turned into a rut.Life gurus often say things like, you can only grow if you are doing new things that make you feel awkward or uncomfortable.

While it sounds cliché and hokey, there’s some truth to that. Pushing the boundaries and discovering new frontiers takes fortitude, risk and a certain sense of fearlessness.

So what happens when you’re in a profession that prompts moments of disquiet? In the housing professions there could be a good number of times you might feel nervous. Perhaps the notion of prospecting makes you dizzy with discomfort. Public speaking might send you over the edge. Or maybe writing up real estate ads drives you to drink.

Whatever the situation, there’s help. Face your fears. In life, we have big fears such as the fear of death, job loss. Those are natural. But what about your debilitating fear of public speaking? Or those panic attacks you get while driving?

Before you can overcome your fear, you need to acknowledge and understand it. Talk to people about it. Look for online support groups.

Try joining Toastmasters. Remember you can’t overcome your fear until you confront it.

Become more comfortable with taking risks. A tall order? Yes. But most things in life worth doing are those that required some level of risk, thought and hard work.

Start small. Change the coffee shop you go to each morning. Then step it up a bit until you’re doing things you never thought imaginable.

Rethink Routines. It’s important on occasion to give your routines a re-evaluation. Take a different way home or consider tuna for lunch instead of egg salad. Get rid of those routines that don’t really work anymore.

Think about what you’d like to switch them with. Then raise the bar to things that really count. Bear in mind that trying out new things takes courage.

Pat yourself on the back. You deserve it.

Cozy up to the unknown. When is the last time you felt the rush of excitement of not knowing what lay ahead?

It’s probably been a while. We’re talking about baby steps here. Again, start small. Take a different route on the way to work. Buy a brand of chewing gum just because you like the package. Greet people differently.

See how it feels and what kind of response you get. Once you’re comfortable with those smaller matters, broaden your scope to things that hold more meaning in your life.Have you ever made a concerted plan to break out of your comfort zone? What did you do? Share your stories with us.