Why I Want to Always Live Outside of My Comfort Zone

One of my favourite comfort zone quotes of all time comes from the movie, The Greatest Showman. Yes, really.

The quote is, ‘Comfort is the enemy of progress’. I remember hearing it in the cinema for the first time and the penny dropping right there and then.

When we’re comfortable, we’re not being challenged and therefore aren’t progressing. We’re stagnant. And one thing I don’t like to be, is stagnant.

Time to get uncomfortable

I’ve written about this fact recently, that I’m coming up to two years in my current job and have been living in the same flat in London for over two years now. And I’m feeling both comfortable and stagnant.

So maybe it’s now time to become uncomfortable and start moving again. But what would that entail? A new job? A new apartment?

For me to feel like I’m living outside of my comfort zone and to be pushing myself, that usually means a brand new city or country.

Each time I’ve done something that pushed me out of my comfort zone, something pretty incredible usually happened.

What happens outside of the comfort zone?

When I pushed myself to move from Ireland to Liverpool, I ended up having the best time and falling in love with the city.

When I pushed myself to apply for a job in London in the beauty industry, I had the best placement year I could have ever imagined.

When I pushed myself to apply for a graduate job in New York City, I had the best year of my life and met my boyfriend.

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything as bold as any of the above, and I miss that feeling of not knowing what’s going to happen, but doing it anyway.

Knowing when it’s time

Life’s too short to be comfortable and complacent all the time. I could keep going in my job that I love, keep paying rent for the nice flat in London, and going about my daily life as per usual.

But there’s something missing now. The excitement’s missing. The feeling of the ‘unknown’ is missing. The potential that anything could happen is missing. Everything’s routine and dare I say, boring.

I’m bored of London and the lack of excitement it’s bringing me. There’s so much more of the world out there to see and experience and I think it’s about time I packed my bags up again and went in seek of it.

Because nothing happens inside our comfort zones and I’m fully ready to start living outside of it again.