Comfort Zones: Are you a Zone Zombie?
Beware the curse of the Zone Zombie! Sound like a bad B-movie? Well it kind of is—and this is one role you can happily pass up.
Behavior regulators called Comfort Zones directly correspond to our Self-Image. For each picture we have of ourselves there is a Comfort Zone that reinforces that image. Some Comfort Zones come from shared images such as our culture which may tell us what we should do or should believe. When these images become rooted in our consciousness, they become Cultural Comfort Zones—or Cultural Trances—boundary-enforced by misinformation. Here are two of what I call “flat world beliefs” the US culture is now challenging:
- “A woman can never be president.”
- “The world cannot function without oil.”
Often the strongest and most limiting Comfort Zones are based on firm personal rules and beliefs or family rules and beliefs. These Restrictive Zones are compelling mental maps that are powerful enough to hold some people back from ever reaching out for what they need in life. Those folks are stuck in the lulling trance of their Restrictive Zone—cornered in a passive existence—Zone Zombies.
Case in point: Your family insists “you will never be successful unless you go to college.” Regardless of the highly-publicized fact that many successful people did not go to college, if you’re a Zone Zombie you’re more likely to resign yourself to failure.
Because we fear being “out of place” physically or psychologically, we return to the current Zone in which we feel most comfortable. That Comfort Zone then regulates our behavior by allowing us to move only slightly above or below our corresponding Self-Image—never completely out of range. If we venture beyond these limits, we experience tension, stress and anxiety. And while these factors may be only temporary, they are disruptive enough to discourage many people from leaving their Comfort Zone. What is the Result of remaining in this Limiting Zone? The Comfort Zone and Self-Image will trigger an inevitable automatic response: because we ACT as we see ourselves to be—the emergence of a new, improved self is denied.
Restrictive Zones are not only limiting; they are dangerous—and can sometimes be life-threatening as in the Restrictive Zones of many who had fatal reactions to the stock market crash of 1929.
Take life-changing action now to break free of your trance and stretch beyond any limiting Comfort Zones:
- Identify any misinformation that has been programmed into you. It isn’t you that’s holding you back—it’s your Self-image that’s holding you back!
- Motivate yourself to change and grow—away from the currently dominating Self-Image—toward a Self-Image of “I CAN and I WILL!”
To be dissatisfied with one’s negative Self-Image is the first step in breaking free of limiting Comfort Zones. When we choose the things we are dissatisfied with and the things we need to change, that dissatisfaction becomes a powerful motivator.
Remember, our Self-Image controls our behavior because: we ACT as we see ourselves to be. Free the Zombie and become all you desire to be!
Be Bop!
