Comfort Zone Evasion

I think comfort often gets overlooked by many of us along the road of life. We all experience it, but freely admitting we enjoy it isn't always easy. Who wants to be seen as unadventurous or boring? For years, comfort or being comfortable was synonymous with being afraid of change in my eyes. Without question, this had much to do with my own experiences of upheaval anytime I started to settle into a comfort zone.

Until the past couple of years, I would get antsy when an area of my life would fall into a steady, reliable kind of rhythm. I'd gotten used to shitstorms rolling in from every direction, so being comfortable meant being unprepared. The first thoughts were always negative, fueling the belief that being comfortable was for people who couldn't keep up with the rest of us. I shake my head just typing that out. Thankfully, embracing the calm periods between storms has brought contentedness I would never have known if I continued to err on the side of pessimism. Quiet times shouldn't be wished away; there are benefits in being able to slow down and revel in peace regardless of the potential for upheaval at any moment.

While there are likely more people out there who find it hard to leave their comfort zone than those who cannot fathom ever sitting with it for more than a moment, I'm not one of those people. Sure, I like having a routine for most days, but I haven't been big on really being present and laid back enough to fully enjoy as much in life as I ought to have by now. I'm far better off than I was a few years ago, but allowing myself to settle in and become comfortable has just started to happen more often.

It's likely this has more to do with my age and how I choose to perceive things than anything else. Striking balance and finding peace have a way of creating possibility. Without either of those things, I might never have reached the point in my life when I would make the kinds of choices that allow for the space to be comfortable. I might not have realized that the only real way of experiencing the best things in life to the fullest is to allow yourself to risk losing it all in the next breath without becoming defensive.

When you aren't focused on what you might lose or what could go wrong, you have more time to appreciate how life can be, more focus to recognize that something you might have overlooked before is really far more beneficial than you could have imagined. We spend so much time planning for all the things that can and often do turn out different than we expect or want, that we miss out on just enjoying the moment we are in while we are in it. Sometimes it makes the most sense to just let yourself relax and find comfortable in whatever situation we happen to be in. If things change and we have to adjust, fine, we can deal with it when that happens. Until then, it might be better to allow ourselves to take a break from the constant future thinking and embrace the present.