By David Hegg

As the New Year has arrived, I’ve been pondering the idea of “stepping out of my comfort zone.” Like me, you’ve heard this many times. “Step out of your comfort zone and try it!” For some reason, other people like to make us do just that, to go outside the supposed boundaries of our comfort.

Those who call us to do so make it sound like comfort is a bad thing, a self-centered thing, a barrier to better living. All this time I’ve believed comfort was a good thing! And so I’ve been thinking about this and have come to a conclusion: Calling someone to “step out of their comfort zone” is foolish and actually quite counterproductive. If the thing you want them to do is “outside” their comfort zone, eventually they’ll retreat into the zone when you’re not looking. This is especially true if you keep telling them that the “thing” is actually uncomfortable! So, I have a better idea.

Here it is. Instead of saying “step out of your comfort zone” to get me to do something uncomfortable, say “enlarge your comfort zone to encompass a new opportunity.” Ah! Enlarging my comfort zone calls on me to do three things. First, I must believe there are more “comfortable” things than those I already........

© Santa Clarita Valley Signal