During a recent blog post, I shared some ways to encourage and motivate yourself, especially in the areas you might find the most challenging. We logically know that sustainable personal growth requires daily action, discipline, and consistency, and that can sometimes be the hardest part of personal transformation. How can we change the more challenging patterns, behaviors, and mindsets that hinder our personal growth? One way is to work on our willingness to change.

Change can be scary

It is okay to be honest with yourself: change can be very scary. We must admit that sometimes it is more comfortable, cozy, safe, and even enjoyable to remain the same. It is predictable. It is the part of life we have learned to navigate and, dysfunctional or not, there is a feeling of stability that comes with being able to manage the predictable. 

However, there are those areas in life that require change, and we know it deep down inside. These are the areas where we feel the most uncomfortable, frustrated, and scared. Interestingly enough, we know the exact next step(s) required, but those steps feel too overwhelming to take. 

Change requires you to get outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes it feels like it is safer to stick with what you know. However, if you really wanted to stick with what you know, you would not be reading this blog post right now. There is something within you that wants to improve something in your life; you just might be too afraid or anxious to do it.

We have to face the hard truth: If we are going to experience a different outcome or change our current circumstances, it is going to require that we step outside of our comfort zones. 

Moving outside your comfort zone

Most of the time when say we want to change, it really means we want the problem, circumstance, and/or pain to disappear. In other words, we want the external circumstances to change while we remain the same.

As much as we would love to stay in our comfort zone, it will not help us see different outcomes in our lives. We can pray and wish for miracles all day, and even manifest and say all the affirmations in the world, but nothing changes if we don’t take different actions. Change is hard work, sacrifice, long days, and even loss. It can suck at times. But, you know what also sucks? The feelings and frustrations we experience sitting in our comfort zone.

The good news is that the fear, anxiety, and even hard work of getting out of the box do not last forever.

5 reasons to embrace change for personal growth

One of my current favorite quotes by Jim Rohn says it best: “If you want change, YOU must change. If you change, everything will change for you. When you get better, everything will get better for you.” 

Embracing change can help us experience greater personal growth. What if the external circumstances are there to create enough friction to facilitate a more permanent internal change (personal growth)? What if the life you desire is going to be a result of your decision to change? 

It is true that the box (your personal comfort zone) has done so much for you so far in your life. Its walls have protected you and given you a safe space to exist in this world. Thanks to the box, you have been able to grow and develop the skills at an appropriate stage of development up until this point. In some cases, the box has helped you survive. Therefore, we are grateful for the box… 

And, we understand that the one thing we must possess to reach our fullest potential is the willingness to change.

Here are five reasons I think change is essential in order to experience greater personal growth:

1. Moving outside your comfort zone allows space for different outcomes.
2. Changing your thinking or actions requires new learning and new learning produces growth.
3. Navigating change builds confidence, whether you see it right away or not.
4. When you are outside of your comfort zone, you have to pay more attention which can lead to more clarity and understanding.
5. Change might be the only thing separating you and your goal.  

The positive side of getting out of your comfort zone

Imagine this: You are living on an airplane (the box). You have the ability to travel to different places in the world by directing the pilot (your heart and mind) to the destination. For some areas of your life, you’ve built up the courage to travel to different destinations and get out of the plane to explore the area. However, in other areas of your life, you have stayed on the ground, not traveled, or have traveled to the destination but opted to stay in the airplane and experience the new area through the windows.

Change looks like getting out of the plane. 

We often fear what we will lose by leaving the plane (the box/our comfort zone). Within this is the biggest fear of them all: losing ourselves and/or losing people. But, what if we looked at the act of leaving the box differently? Leaving the box doesn’t mean you can never return to that safe place (what some call “home”); it means that you need to at least practice setting foot outside of your comfort zone to explore what else life has for you.

Everything you want is on the other side of change

Have you ever tried to wear shoes that were too small for you? What about trying to fit yourself on a kid-size bike or scooter? It hurts, right? What if that is the same reason you are experiencing so much friction in life right now? What if life is trying to send you signals that you have outgrown your old habits or that it is time for your level of personal development to catch up to your full potential? 

The time has come when your comfort zone has given you all that it can. We have literally outgrown that space.

Think about it. As a baby, you didn’t experience more exploration until you learned how to crawl. You didn’t experience greater independence until you learned how to walk. This is similar to life: there are some things we will not experience until we move to the next stage of development. Yes, that next stage might come with bumps and bruises, but that does not outweigh all the new opportunities and learning you gain.  

Life is a journey, not a destination. Therefore, everything we have experienced so far is meant to be used to keep us going, not for us to set up camp and lock ourselves in the plane. Trust me, I know this is easier said than done, but if we are going to experience internal wholeness and freedom we have to at least be armed with the truth. Growth is a journey to freedom and wholeness, and growth will not happen if we refuse to change. 

Wherever you are starting today, know that you can change your thoughts, actions, and outcomes. Let us make a goal to proactively work on the areas of our lives that are within our control to change and improve. Personal growth will happen if you are willing to embrace change.