Comfort Zones

What do we mean by Comfort Zones? Judith Bardwick says it is a state within which a person operates in an anxiety neutral position. Brene Brown says, “It is where our uncertainty, scarcity and vulnerability are minimized, where we believe we’ll have access to enough love, food, talent, time, admiration. Where we feel we have some control.” And many other psychologists refers to it as a state within which a person feels at ease, familiar, and in control, and experiences low anxiety. A person in this state uses a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.

A Comfort Zone is an area which we are used to. It is plans, thoughts, words, actions and things that we love to do because with them we are assured of our happiness and success. We are used to them because it gives us a certain level of comfort. And so outside this zone, we become uncertain, insecure and unsure because we don’t know whether we will be happy or unhappy, successful or failures.

I believe that all of us have Comfort Zones. We do things that make us happy, we go with people that we are sure of. We go to places that are safe and secure. We do things where we can predict the outcome. We frequent restaurants that assure us of good and satisfying food and service. We make this; we plan that because we are sure of the outcome. These are our Comfort Zones.

The Apostles Simon, Andrew, James and John also had their own Comfort Zones. They were all fishermen. They were good at fishing. That was as far as they could go and fishing was their only Comfort Zone. Then here comes Jesus and invites them, “Come, follow me.” Following Jesus is way outside the boundaries of their Comfort Zones. They don’t know Jesus, they don’t what kind of word that this man Jesus is offering them, they don’t know where are they going to live, they don’t know what will happen to their families, but just the same they go beyond their Comfort Zones and do a heroic act: they follow Jesus. They just have found a new secure and reassuring Comfort Zone in Jesus.

Let us challenge ourselves to go beyond and move out of our Comfort Zones and discover life and discover Jesus. Some of us have so many fears, we have set our parameters so tightly around us that we cannot move anymore. Let us break loose, grow and discover new beginnings, new opportunities and more and wider Comfort Zones in life with God