Isn’t it frustrating when you KNOW you need to take steps to get stronger, healthier, and more fit. Maybe you have noticed that it is getting harder to keep up with your kids or to climb the stairs or to walk to the store from the car. Maybe you have been promising yourself for a long time that you are going to take positive steps to improve your health. However, you feel stuck. Stuck in the same patterns and behaviors that have not been helpful to you. Stuck in “I’ll start on Monday” mode for way too long.
Words, intentions, and thoughts are great. But when it comes to actually taking the first steps to improve your health, why it so hard to actually do it? What holds us back? In short, it is often our comfort zone that keeps us stuck. Our minds are hard-wired to stay in our comfort zone. In our comfort zone, our minds are at ease. We feel like we are more in control, and it feels less stressful. Judith Bardwick in Danger in the Comfort Zone, says: “The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.”
However, when a person is wanting to improve health, it is time to step out of the comfort zone. We have to choose new behaviors that will lead us to the goals we have. Whether the goal is to lose weight, gain muscle, improve cardiovascular health, or start eating more nutritious foods, as Amelia Earhart once said, “The most effective way to do it is to do it.” We need DECIDE to move out of the comfort zone and into the growth zone.
According to “Leaving The Comfort Zone” in PositivePsychology.com/Toolkit, heading into the growth zone involves moving through fear that often comes from lack of confidence or from the opinions of those around us. When we get past the fear and start learning something new, we build confidence. This new confidence can lead us to take even more new steps.
When a person takes the first step and reaches out to us, we know this is HUGE! They have taken a step out of their comfort zone! We are so excited for them! It is our goal to help them continue to move into the growth zone through our No-Sweat Intros and our On-Ramp Sessions. It is always an honor to be trusted with this journey. We are here to help them gain skills, set goals, and get stronger. And we celebrate every success with them!