Personal Growth and Comfort

People often confuse the pursuit of comfort with the pursuit of happiness. When we arrive home, we settle down on our couch, enjoy our favorite food or tv show, and feel relaxed in familiar surroundings. All may seem right with the world, and we momentarily believe ourselves to be happy. While satisfied and comfortable in the moment, however, on a deeper level our lack of satisfying relationships, work, accomplishments, and/or personal pursuits continue to hang over our heads and leave us feeling frustrated or dissatisfied. From this it becomes evident that true happiness is not found within our comfort zone, but rather when we require ourselves to spend the majority of our time stepping outside of it. Outside of our comfort zone is the place where, even as we experience some level of discomfort, frustration, anxiety, and failure, we are actively engaged in a process of personal growth. We accomplish this through taking positive risks, developing skills, taking on new challenges, pursuing goals, experimenting with new ways of thinking and interacting, and making progress toward our personal goals.

Our zones of personal challenge and discomfort are truly the places where we learn, adapt, solve problems, grow stronger, and develop increased confidence and self-esteem. While it is important to create and maintain a comfort zone as the base to which we can return, it will never serve as the means to achieve the connections, understanding, and personal growth we need to give meaning to our lives and to find the happiness we seek.