Comfort zones. Sitting with your friends in a familiar setting, a little bubble of joy and safety around you. You laugh at an inside joke and playfully punch your friend in the arm when she teases you. You’re with your people and it feels oh, so good. You are in your comfort zone.
Our comfort zone can be a wonderful place. It’s what we’re used to, who we’re used to, and can be the perfect place to open up, process, and rest in.
However, there is also this amazing, scary place that rests just beyond the boundaries of what you’re used to. The unknown. Outside your comfort zone.
Most people, myself included, love our comfort zones. They’re, well, comfy. However, are we called to stay within our comfort zones at all times? Will we ever experience anything new, or feel fulfilled? Will we ever be able to follow God’s calling on our lives within our comfort zone? I don't think so. In Do Hard Things, Alex and Brett Harris provide some great insight into our comfort zones and stepping outside of them:
“If we take a step despite feeling uncomfortable, afraid, or inadequate, our comfort zones expand. We grow in strength and skill. What we consider normal for us changes, sometimes radically... We’ve noticed that the fence that keeps us from breaking out of our comfort zones is nearly always built of fear— fear of weakness, discomfort, failure, humiliation. We’ve noticed something else too: you can’t live by fear and live by faith at the same time. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1:7, ‘God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.’ (NIV)”
What if we decided to live our lives embracing faith and abandoning fear? This would change our lives immeasurably. How many times, in the last few months, did you refrain from doing a good thing, something you wanted to do or felt that God had called you to do because you were scared? Didn’t go out for the sports team because you might not make it. Didn’t sign up for the hard class because you might fail. Didn’t stand up for someone because you might be rejected. Didn’t go offer to pray for the person you know is struggling because they might react badly. Didn’t forgive because they might hurt you again.
Do you see the problem with all of these? All of these reasons for not doing the thing are rooted in fear.
Oh, but friends, we do not need to be afraid!!! God has called us out of fear and into faith. No matter what happens, God can provide and care for us so much better than anything else on this earth and has so much more power than any circumstance.
Trust me, I know how hard it is to live this way. I am definitely going to read this a few times once I’m done writing because I know God is speaking to me through this. I just keep thinking about how vastly different our lives would be if we took chances when God calls us beyond our comfort zones, and always leaned into Him for strength through it. Because bad things can happen. But, when they happen we are never alone and have divine power from God, our strong tower.
Let me tell you a story. I recently joined the water polo team at my school and we had a team-building event after the first week of practice. It was not mandatory for newbies but encouraged. Oh, I thought, A team building event at the lake? Sounds fun! Welllllllllllllllllllll, the night before the event, our coach informed us that we’d be jogging half a mile, swimming half a mile, and then running two miles. For time.
I
hate
running.
I know two and a half miles doesn’t seem that bad, but, oh, I hate running with a passion. The cruelest form of punishment, for me, is running. I agonized the night before. I wanted to go, because, despite the running, it’d probably be fun. I’d get to know more people, and I would be able to stretch myself and become a better athlete. However, the part of my mind that loves my comfort zone said I might humiliate myself, come in last, look like an idiot, or literally die from running (well, maybe not, but you never know 😉😉😉). I finally decided to go, and you know what, I didn’t humiliate myself, come in last, look like an idiot, or (surprisingly) die. What I did do was have fun, meet new people, and was so proud of myself for how well I did and for doing it at all. I also got my dad to reward me with Jamba Juice. (:
This is just one example of how stepping outside of our comfort zones can be a good thing. In every area of life, at school, with our friends, in our spiritual lives, at home, in sports, at church, and in pursuing our passions, we are likely holding back in some way.
So, I encourage you, and myself, to step outside. Go to the place where the magic happens. Create a lifestyle where you are “in your zone” when you step outside your comfort zone. And, no matter what happens, find refuge in God, relying on Him for strength.
Thanks for reading my random ramblings about comfort zones! See you soon!