Most people want to be become successful, pursue their passions, and live a life full of happiness and love. The truth is, making your dreams become a reality requires leaving the comfortable environment and challenging yourself on a regular basis. However, it’s a minority of people who understand the importance of embracing discomfort in order to lead a regretless and fulfilled lifestyle.
Many people fear stepping into the unknown and questioning their abilities. They fear failure, disapproval, and discomfort. Being aware of the thousands of potential obstacles paralyzes them. However, once you make the decision to step out of your comfort zone and fully commit to doing this daily, you’ll experience many amazing things you wouldn’t have otherwise.
In this article, I want to encourage you to become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable by showing you the great consequences of embracing discomfort.
1. You’ll start growing incredibly quickly
“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”
Brian Tracy
The moment you fully leave your comfort zone is when you begin developing exceptionally quickly. It’s because the only way to extraordinary results is through discomfort. By constantly questioning yourself, you improve your skills and develop new ones. Every new change serves you as a great source of motivation to keep going.
It’s a like a snowball effect: a will to change a little implants a deep desire to grow more and more. Over time, you notice the huge transformation that took place in your life.
2. You’ll begin to love challenging yourself
At first, each challenge may seem tough or even impossible. However, once you go through it and deal with whatever life throws at you, you realize how powerful you can become only by accepting the discomfort.
Every time you leave your comfort zone and notice the amazing results, you crave more and more. This became especially apparent to me once I began taking cold showers.
In the beginning, I felt uncomfortable and wanted to finish the shower as soon as possible. What I noticed, however, is the sense of satisfaction that comes afterward. This feeling beats the initial fear and resentment. Over time, the negative emotions disappear completely and you feel excited to stay on track.
3. You’ll realize all your fears are fictional
Coming up with countless excuses which seem reasonable is my brain’s biggest hobby. It’s so good at it that it very often managed to make me believe that I can’t do something. The fact is, and I promise you it’s the truth and not another cliched sentence, your fears that prevent a change are fictional.
If you don’t train your mind to work for you, it works against you by default. As a result, tons of excuses pop up in your head and paralyze your ability to improve. Sooner or later, you decide to take action and ignore the negative thoughts.
This is the moment when you realize that you often underestimate your skills and overestimate the power of potential obstacles. What seemed impossible turned out to be doable and even enjoyable.
Whatever your current goal is that you postpone over and over again, I’d like you to mute the voice that encourages you to put it off and begin working on it, starting either today or tomorrow.
You have my word that the results will amaze you!
4. You’ll replace regret with excitement.
Living a comfortable life isn’t exciting. It seems nice and warm during the day, but once you go to bed and contemplate another day which went by in which you made zero progress toward your goals, the magic is replaced with a bitter regret.
Fortunately, there’s an alternative. It starts with stepping outside your comfort zone. You commit to progress every single day. Even if you move only a tiny bit, it’s still a huge accomplishment.
At the end of the day, there are no regrets or annoyances. Instead, you feel incredible about yourself and excited to conquer the next day.
5. You’ll laugh at your past self.
“As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes your new normal.”
Robin S. Sharma
The longer you travel the paths of discomfort, the more you laugh at your past weak self. You notice your bygone excuses and problems were made-up and absurd. Your current self isn’t afraid of challenges or failures. You are prepared to mess up from time to time; however, it’s never a reason not to do something.
As I began the journey of self-improvement, I finally understood that your current struggles become a reason to laugh in the future. It all depends on your perspective and attitude.
The same problem or challenge can be a real can of worms or a piece of cake. Whatever it is, it’s always fully up to you.
6. You’ll find out more about your strengths and weaknesses.
Constantly questioning yourself leads to discovering your good and bad sides. Each challenge is a new life lesson. Whether you complete it successfully or fail miserably, there’s always some value added to your life.
You can’t learn about your true self by lying on the couch, eating nachos, and watching another season of your favorite show. If something is nice and cozy, it probably provides zero value or even worsens your situation.
Let’s have a look at eating patterns as an example.
Eating fast food feels good at first, since the food companies spare no effort to make us crave their products. But in reality, it’s always damaging both to your health and mood. The exact opposite is true of eating healthy, unprocessed foods. If you are used to consuming junk, it’s uncomfortable initially, but over time, you are proud of making the switch.
The lesson you learn from this shift is that you can actually control what you put on your plate and choose long-term health over short-term gratification.
7. You’ll boost your self-confidence.
Experiencing the results of your hard work and how powerful you are once you decide to be unstoppable improves your self-confidence significantly.
A person who fears stepping out of their comfort zone is simply unaware of their abilities and competencies. However, once discomfort knocks at your door and you open it with a smile on your face, ready to transform yourself, your self-confidence shoots up You realize that whether you can or you can’t is absolutely up to you. Taking that responsibility makes you the master of your own universe, where you start to truly believe in yourself.
8. You’ll create a new source of incredible satisfaction.
Most comfortable activities seem satisfying on the surface, while, in reality, true fulfillment and joy take place outside of your comfort zone.
When I finish a freezing cold shower, I feel great and pumped up for new challenges awaiting for me this very day. When I complete a chapter of my new book, I feel amazing because of making progress.
Same goes for completing a hardcore workout in the gym.
All these activities have one thing in common: the initial phase requires pushing yourself to do them, but once it’s over, you feel like a god.
9. You’ll realize the only way to success leads through discomfort.
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
Neale Donald Walsch
Over time, you notice the correlation between discomfort and worthwhile things in life. Oftentimes, one does not exist without the other. Short-term discomfort leads to long-term improvement and success.
Based on my personal experience, most of the achievements I’m proud of started with leaving my comfort zone. The fact is, things we want to accomplish require hard work and perseverance. You can’t expect great satisfaction and contentment from easy and mediocre stuff. If it scares you, that’s a good sign!
10. You’ll begin inspiring people around you.
When your attitude changes drastically, people begin to watch you more carefully and feel inspired by your results. They see that being an average person or an outstanding individual is only a choice and not a foredoom.
Even if some folks discourage you in the beginning, ignore their voices. As the time goes by and you stick to your own rules, you stop looking for others’ approval.
Sooner or later, the naysayers will either become overwhelmed by your results and inspired to change their minds, or you’ll no longer hear them.
To make your life easier, separate yourself from the negative energy so that you remove another potential obstacle and make your path toward success more transparent.
There’s one priceless feeling you’ll definitely experience provided you embrace discomfort: when people around you start talking about the changes you have made and how you inspired them to do the same. The motivation which comes from that is immeasurable.
