5 Things To Do To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone and Be Happy

Be sure to read the important update at the end of this post. It will blow your mind. This girl took her comfort zone and threw it in the garbage. Find out how to get out of your comfort zone too and see what happened to me! This post was written in 2015.

My son is overseas at the moment. He’s been there since March of this year. I miss him like crazy. I keep up with him on Facebook through private messaging, and random pics he posts of his adventures. The last slew of pics he posted showed him swimming with whale sharks.

Talk about stepping out of your comfort zone! eeep.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think someone just posted some pics from a National Geographic photo shoot. But nope. That was my kid and I’ve never been more proud of him. He has no plans of returning to Canada anytime soon which got me thinking about something.

Why can’t I do that? Why can’t I go overseas and swim with whale sharks too? (OK maybe those critters are kinda scary to me but I’m up for looking for giant sea turtles! )

This sure got me thinking…. a lot!!

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And the wheels started turning. So here I am in Canada. Northern Ontario to be exact. Winter is coming. (which reminds me, Game of Thrones will be back on soon….yes!!!) If you know anything of winter up here you will understand why I’m itching to get the heck outta here soon!

If you don’t own a snow machine, snowshoes, skates, or any other winter paraphernalia then you clearly just don’t belong up here. I don’t and I don’t.

Why am I here then? Really?

I despise winter. I am a horrible winter driver. I won’t take any road trips as soon as the snow flies. I hate being cold. What on earth am I doing here then?

Yes, this really got me thinking. There’s surely something else out there for me. Outside of Northern Ontario Canada. Isn’t there?

Of course, there is.

There’s a whole big wide world out there. I am not chained to Sudbury. I like Sudbury. This has been my home for 52 years. But there’s more out there. And it’s time for me to discover it. I’ve realized there’s nothing keeping me here anymore.

So why stay? Fear? Perhaps. Comfort zone? Definitely.

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So what is your comfort zone?

I feel like I need to explain what is a comfort zone and why the comfort zone is dangerous. So the Google definition of a comfort zone is this:

“a place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress”.

I like the way they threw in that last part ‘without stress’. No wonder so many people stay in their comfort zone. They think leaving it will cause stress. Good grief!!

It doesn’t really. I mean, it all depends on what exactly you’re doing but more than likely you will not suffer from stress by getting out of your comfort zone.

Just pure bliss.

So why is the comfort zone a dangerous place? Because nothing happens there. NO learning NO growing NO evolving and VERY little living.

You simply just exist. Ooph. What a waste of life imo.

How to know when it’s time to get out of your comfort zone

So when do we get the balls to step out of our comfort zone? When do you finally decide “OK world, here I come, look out!”? For me, it was easy. I could feel it deep within me. Burning so furiously and passionately inside of me. Something in me was screaming.

I feel restless and full of anxiety. These are my cues. It’s time. I’m scared. I’m excited. I’m anxious. I’m overwhelmed. I’m ready.

Do you have any of those feelings? Ever?

Do you feel something inside of you screaming for your attention? Stop putting it to rest. Stop ignoring it! It’s screaming for a reason. It’s time. That’s how you know when it’s time to get out of your comfort zone and go do epic sh*t.

What’s next?

And now the real work begins, right? I mean I’ve already decided I’m ready to step out of my comfort zone and go do brave and ballsy stuff but how? Where do I begin?

It’s all so overwhelming (this may be the ‘stress’ Google was talking about) but honestly, it’s more exciting than it is stressful. This coming from a girl who totally reinvented her whole life so she could live the life of her dreams.

Was it stressful even just a little bit? Mebbe but not so much that it made me stop and cower back. In fact, it really just propelled me to move forward with even more vigor and enthusiasm!

So let me share with you some tips on how to get out of your safe place.

5 Things to do to Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

It’s scary to change anything, amirite? Change requires us to do something we’ve never done before and maybe don’t know how to do.

I totally get that. I can honestly admit there may have been a few times I felt like throwing up because I was about to embark on a total life reinvention.

But, also, it really just got me sooooo excited too!! And damn proud of myself. Omg I was so friggin proud of myself for doing what I was doing.

You have to learn to face your fears and push past them. You have to learn to not let your fears get in the way or stop you.

You might like this mini self help eBook I recently wrote on how to face fears. Click the image below (or this link here) to grab your copy of this powerful mini eBook today!

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5 things to do to get out of your comfort zone

1 Write out what you want

Take 30 minutes to sit quietly and write out all the things you really want to do with your life. What are your passions and desires? What have you been putting off doing for so long yet so desperately want to do but have always been afraid of doing?

Do you want to change careers or maybe try sky diving? Maybe you want to travel to a new country alone (like I did!) or learn how to drive a car!

Whatever it may be, all of the things, write them out and then re-read your list and after you read each one take note of how it makes you feel.

2 Do some research

What is required of you to do your thing? How much work is involved (not that that should matter)? Will it cost a lot of money and if so, how can you acquire said funds.

Talk to people who are already doing what you want to do because seriously, there are people doing it right now!! Join Facebook groups or Meet-ups to and connect with like-minded people.

It actually may come as a surprise to you that what you want to do might not be so hard at all!

3 Take some action steps

Now that you have a basic idea of what it takes to do your thing, start taking small steps to make it happen. Joining a group or connecting with like-minded people is one step but you have to start taking more steps and maybe even making a plan!

Get yourself a daily planner and make a date in it, like you would a doctor’s appointment, with one action step and commit to doing it!!

4 Tell a friend 

When you tell someone what you are about to do or want to do they may hold you accountable to do it. The more you talk about it the more excited you will be about it (bye so-called stress!)

Post on your Facebook wall that you are about to do _________ <insert ballsy thing here.

Talk about it every damn day and know without a shadow of a doubt you are going to do your thing!!

5 Reward yourself

Once you’ve accomplished your first thing, reward yourself! Take yourself out on a date or buy yourself a present. Stepping out of your comfort zone is not an easy thing to do but you did it.

Make sure you stick to committing to doing your thing, each thing, and treat yourself every time you do. It will make you want to do even more cool and ballsy things! Trust me on that.

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So what happened to Iva 5 years ago?

Here’s an update on how my life changed after I decided to get out of my comfort zone. If you remember at the beginning I told you this was written in 2015 and tweaked and updated since then.

This is how I changed my life back in 2015 after watching my son go off and live his dream.

So at the time I wrote this, I was still cutting hair in a salon in a mall in Northern Ontario Canada, and blogging part-time for fun. And then this happened:

• I traded in my hairstyling career for a freelance writing career
• I sold, donated and gave away more than 95% of my stuff
• I packed two suitcases
• bought a one-way ticket to Guatemala
• and the rest is history

I realized I had been playing my life safe in my comfort zone for way too long and something had to give. I realized it was time for me to practice what I preach and do something about my life.

So I took my own advice, sent my comfort zone packing, grabbed life by the balls, and did something completely daring and bold. Was I scared? You better believe it. Did I ever once think about stopping and not moving forward? Oh yes, many times.

But you know what happened? The more I thought about my dream of living somewhere warm for the winter and helping poor people, the more it fired me up and I just didn’t care how scary it was anymore. The fear took a back seat along with my comfort zone.

I was done playing small and being safe all the time. I needed to get out and explore life and this world. I was tired of living my life for everyone else and was ready to live my life for me.

This is what happens when you step out of your comfort zone. You find freedom, joy, inner peace, and ridiculous happiness.

My goal and mission now is to help and inspire as many people as I can around the world to flick fear, smash through walls, embrace change and live the life THEY DESIRE AND DESERVE!!!

I recently created this amazing and powerhouse course The 21 Day Life Changing Challenge that is jam packed with tools, tricks and tips to help YOU get out of your comfort zone, stop being miserable and STUCK and help you finally be happy.

Click the link here or the image below to find out more about this course.

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Are you ready to take that step and get out of your comfort zone? Lemme hear ya yell “YASSSSSS”!!!

Did you like this post? Did it inspire or motivate you in any way shape or form? If so, you can now say “thank you Iva” and support my work and buy me a coffee by clicking on the button below!! xoxo

Peace and love

Iva