The Comfort Zone

The comfort zone is lovely place, it's all squishy and soft, warm and cosy, and when you leave it it can be very hard to be yourself. It happens quite often, but not as much as it should. It's something that you need to do every now and again, to check that you're pushing yourself hard enough, to look at yourself from the outside, and as a test to how you can cope no matter where you are.

Almost anything can push you out of your comfort zone, whether it's being left alone in a strange place, or not being in the right mood, not having the atmosphere, even having a cold. When you're at work or at home it's unlikely that you'll leave the zone, but when you're out with friends it can take just one thing to kick you out of it. Once that happens it can be quite a daunting place, and hard to get back again.

Perhaps the trick is not just to be able to survive outside the zone, but also to be able to extend the zone to where you are. To be able to go somewhere you don't fit in, or where you don't know anyone and just make yourself as at home as you would be anywhere else.

This may prove hard if people are less friendly, but once you get into a good conversation location is really quite irrelevent, your frame becomes more focused.

Re-framing is an excellent process, conducted in the mind and really is just looking at things from the bright side. If you don't get the job after an interview, instead of focusing on the negative sides, you can learn from the positives. You learnt that you need to work on your interview technique, or that a certain technique didn't work in that scenario. Every situation is framed by each person, and understanding another persons view can allow you to empathise, or find a way to make them see it your way.

It can also help get you back into your comfort zone - but then, so can alcohol. Up to you I guess...