The frog was living happily in the pond but one day a strange incident happened to him. He was hungry. There was nothing to eat for a long time. In search of food, he came out of the water and came to the shore, and there was food lying on a stone. He became very happy and climbed the rock, as he approached the food, a human hand caught him and put him in a bag. He screamed, flailed but couldn’t get out of the bag. The man came home, filled a pot with water, put it on the stove and put the frog in it. When the frog saw the clear water, he liked it. He began to swim in it and enjoyed it. After a while he felt that the bottom of the water was slowly heating up, he didn’t care. After some time all the water became hot and gradually it became more intense, so he started cooling his body with his natural ability. As water was getting hot, he increased his physical coolness. After two minutes the water started boiling. The frog tried to cool his body accordingly but his muscles failed to respond. Now he started jumping and trying his best to somehow get out of the vessel but all his efforts proved futile. In no time he started panting. The energy in his body was exhausted and he died in a few moments without being able to withstand the boiling water.
The example of us humans is also like this story of the frog. 98% of us spend our time in a dangerous place. Yes! The most dangerous place. You may think that I am not aware of such a place, but no! You have also spent time in this place somewhere. This place is the comfort zone that kills a person’s potential and corrodes his talent.
Lying on the sofa at home watching TV, enjoying a soft bed instead of a morning walk, enjoying mutton karahi, chicken biryani, pizza, cold drink every third day, getting rid of work instead of hard work, wanting a good job and an average salary and wishing that no pain, no problem, no trial come before me throughout my life. No one bother me, because solving problems kills me. Working hard makes me tired. I don’t like eating vegetables and salads, sweating in exercise is exhausting me, and working for myself instead of a job is too risky for me. All this may be the voice of a person’s heart but it is such a dangerous trap that a person who gets caught in it is left far behind in his personal and professional life.
Review the example of the frog. If the frog hadn’t enjoyed the clear water of the pot and jumped out before the water got too hot, his life might have been saved, but he lay there, not taking advantage of a perfect opportunity. Considering the challenge temporary, he neglected it. But when things got out of his control and it became absolutely necessary for him to get out of the water, he did not have enough energy left to save his life.
The same thing happens with us. We embrace an average life. We have a golden opportunity to work hard, improve our skills, improve ourselves and become special, but the “comfort zone” makes us so addicted to pleasure that we can’t leave it. We cannot break its shackles. We think that life is just passing by, so let it pass. We will see when the time comes. The biggest disadvantage of this thinking is that when the water goes above our head and we stop breathing, then we have no energy left. We can only move our hands and feet, not daring to get out of the water.
The “comfort zone” is many times more dangerous than it sounds. It is an addiction that enters the veins of a person in an imperceptible way and makes him addicted. While living in it, a person does not even realize that the abilities that are present in him have started getting rusty. Gradually he starts losing his abilities and then comes a time when he becomes sluggish, slow and an inactive person.
Such a person who lacks ability cannot take challenges in his life. He gets very worried if the conditions get a bit worse. He does not have the courage to accept the facts of life and fight against them. His life does not change. Such a person wants to change his life, he wants to become a famous person but it is only a wish and he does not do anything to make it a reality. He is not willing to take risks. He is not willing to change course, migrate, leave his favorite job and pay the price of change. New people don’t come into his life because three things are needed to build and maintain relationships: attention, time and money. Every relationship needs attention, it needs time. One has to participate in marriages and sorrows and one has to spend money from time to time, but a person who is a prisoner of “comfort zone” cannot do all this, because he wants to live a comfortable life.
Another major disadvantage of living in the “comfort zone” is that it starts to bog down one’s professional life, which prevents one from advancing in one’s field. His whole life goes away but he remains where he was twenty years ago.
“Comfort zone” also affects one’s health. Spending hours sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a packet of popcorn in one hand, not walking, just eating and sleeping, living on fried foods and countless other habits that affect health. He suffers from some medical problem all the time. This is the collective behavior of the society and due to this you will see a large number of people at medical stores in every area.
“Comfort zone” also corrodes human ability. He doesn’t learn new things, doesn’t work on his personality, and doesn’t overcome his weaknesses. As a result, he becomes a useless person who neither has the courage to change his life nor that of others.
“Comfort zone” also weakens human relationships. He wants to have relationships but on the condition of his “comfort zone”. He is unwilling to sacrifice his time and attention and gradually his friends, family and relatives drift away from him.
“Comfort zone” also weakens a person’s Will Power. He does not have the courage to do anything new. Although man is such a creature that if he changes his thinking, his whole life changes. If he adds a good teacher, friend or book in his life, his destiny changes but here it doesn’t happen because the “comfort zone” has destroyed the building of his courage.
So do you have the courage to step out of your comfort zone? If so, get up and free yourself by breaking the prison bars with your own strength, but you will still not be free. Leaving the “comfort zone” you will come to another circle called the fear zone. Here you will always be worried that I will take a new step, but what will people say? Whenever you try to change yourself, the voice inside will say: “What will people say?” This fear will take over your mind and prevent you from doing anything new. After trying again and again you start doubting yourself that maybe I lack the ability so I can’t do anything but this is an illusion in which your fear tries to push you. Staying here, your inner self starts looking for excuses. In case of any failure, a voice immediately comes from within you that it happened because of such and such person or else I was going to do this. While living in this circle, you also lack the power of decision. You depend on the decisions of others. It’s like the car is yours but someone else is sitting on the driving seat.
Here someone inside you says to rebel, don’t accept these conditions, and get out of here. You also twist these bars with your full force. You get yourself free from fear zone. Now a third zone starts which is called Learning zone. Now you have courage. You take on new challenges. You also try new experiences, with the idea of learning something from them. You learn from every person and every event. Problem solving develops in you due to exposure to different situations. No matter how many difficulties you face, no matter how much criticism you face, you consider all these things as part of life and try to solve them. This is where you develop new skills. Questions arise in your heart, the answers to which you seek and new paths open before you.
This journey of learning brings you into a wonderful realm called the Growth zone. Growth means developing step by step. All the development in the world has happened because of this region. The first achievement you get here is that you find the purpose of life. Dreams begin to bloom within you. These dreams keep you restless. You toss and turn, you wake up suddenly at night and think about your dreams. There is no sleep in your eyes because dreams reside there. This yearning, this passion gives you the reward of “purpose of life.”
Purpose in life gives you the motivation to move forward. It keeps you on track. It brings you back on track if you ever lose direction. If you ever get off your feet, it gives you courage again. The greater the purpose of your life, the less the fear of dying. Because death comes to man, not to purpose. Even if a purposeful person leaves, his mission is carried forward by others. An example of this is like the Olympic torch which is held by one athlete after another and the torch continues its journey.
In the “Growth Zone” you set new goals for yourself. If one destination is found, then the second destination, then the third, fourth and fifth destinations, then you enjoy the path more than the destination. In this region you gather conquests. There are claps for you, chants, you celebrate your victory and after each victory you gear up for another destination. To be honest, walking on this path has a solace, peace and satisfaction that is unmatched by anything else in the world.
Get up, count yourself among the lucky two percent of the world who break the bars of the “comfort zone”. Push yourself into the “Growth Zone” that is the secret of success and if not then remember what a wise man said “If you are doing what you have always done, you will get what you have always been getting” and these words of Maulana Rumi are enough to wake up a person from deep sleep
“God made you to fly, but you are crawling!!