The Curse of Comfort As the New Year quickly approaches, most of us will take a minute to evaluate where we are in our lives. Will will look at our career, education, personal life, goals and mental health. Many of us will look back to a year ago to measure our progress (or lack of) compared to where we were. Are we where we were a year ago? Did we implement the changes we planned a year ago? Many of us will say not much has changed. Why? Most probably have an inner dialogue that says I am lazy or unmotivated, while those descriptions may be accurate for some, the real culprit is our arch enemy Comfort. Most people do not change until the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of changing. Change often takes us out of our comfort zone, a place we dont like to leave. Many of my clients express dissatisfaction with their lives, they have high paying jobs they dont like, but are afraid to leave because of the security the jobs offer. Clients often stay in loveless relationships because the known dysfunction brings less fear then the unknown situation or no relationship. A client called me last March and was devastated by the news he was let go from his company of 18 years. This was the same career that he was complaining about how much he hated going to work and dealing with unreasonable employees and supervisors. Before he was fired, he had mentally threatened to quit 50 times. He now was depressed that he lost his job and felt betrayed by his former company. The fact is he was ripped unexpectedly from his comfort zone and was very afraid. After a few weeks of inaction and suffering, we finally started to begin a plan of action. He began networking with colleagues and various business acquaintances. He was offered a one month consulting job with a former competitor, while not a full time job, my client was excited. He preformed very well and the company asked he to become a part time consultant. He began to think of himself in positive terms and let his peers know he was now consulting. Last week he called to let me know he now has several clients in 5 States. He will make at least 3 times the salary he did with his previous employer, who also has hired him as a consultant. This is an example of what happens and why we get stuck. While comfort is what most of us seek, it can be our greatest enemy. I challenge you to make the changes you feel you need to make. If a behavior or a situation is not serving you, STOP it! We are not here on this planet very long, lets not waste the time we do have. Take action now! You are far stronger than you possibly can imagine. Make it a point to step out of your comfort zone this upcoming year. If you are not happy in a situation you have 3 choices, you can leave it, you can change it or you can accept it. Whining about it is not effective. I sincerely hope everyone has a safe and productive New Year... Lets do this.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 15:06:37 +0000
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