What parts of your life are you allowing to overtake you because you are staying in your comfort zone, instead of making the changes you know you need to.  I started thinking about this when I was putting my socks on.  I was having a tough time leaning straight over to put my socks and shoes on.  I could feel my pants super tight around my midsection and I could feel the pressure on my belly when I was trying to reach my toes to get those socks on.  

I felt like I did when I was 5 months pregnant and my belly no longer allowed me to be able to reach my feet.  I had to pull my one foot up over my opposite knee in order to be able to reach it.  This is actually one of the things I hated most about being pregnant.  I hated how my sock would always feel crooked when I could no longer pull my sock on straight.  I hated how my shoes always seemed just a bit off because I was trying to tie it sideways.  I told myself I would never put my shoes on like this when I wasn’t pregnant.  

Well,  here was the day that I was putting my socks on sideways and tying my shoes on my knee, and I’m not pregnant!  I started thinking why I was doing this and how I could fix it.  Well, the answer to that was easy… lose weight! The only reason I was in this situation was because I was bigger than my body could handle to achieve the simple task of bending over to touch my toes.  

But where the problem lies is that instead of doing something about it, like eating less, eating better foods, or working out, instead I would just start tying my shoes sideways.  I could just get used to it this way, right?  Why was this my first thought?  Why didn’t it make me change my food habits instead of just starting to live with this new way of doing things. It’s because of the COMFORT ZONE.   

The comfort zone can be a terrible place to live.  It may seem that it is the best place as we are comfortable and we feel “good” there, but in fact, living in that place for too long will actually cause pain and discomfort.  There is no growth in the comfort zone and when there is no growth, we are declining. As a living being we must be growing at all times.   Staying in this comfort zone will eventually turn to a place where we start negative self talk and beating ourselves up.  

When we reach a place in our comfort zone where we feel terrible is when we will start to make changes. I started having to put my socks and shoes on sideways and it finally clicked that the problem is my eating and has nothing to do with my clothes.  So this should be an easy fix right?  No! Because the problem lies in staying in that pain moment long enough to actually make a change.  The pain moment we feel that we start beating ourselves up for whatever it is we want to change is the thing that has to motivate us to change the thing that will get us to our goal.  

 We have to make a conscious decision to make the changes that are out of our comfort zone.  We have to decide which thing we want more and make those changes by deciding over and over again.  We can’t just say it one time and then think that we will get to our goal.  It means that every time we are faced with the things that we really don’t want to do or change, like eating habits for myself, we must make a conscious decision to do what is right to reach the goal, and not what we are used to or what our comfort zone is telling us that will make us feel good in the moment.  

Everything is a decision. Everything!! Remember that every step you take, or don’t take is a decision.  Make sure you are making the decisions and not allowing your comfort zone to be making those choices for you. Set the goals and figure out the steps you need to take.  Make good decisions and surround yourself with people that will keep you accountable to yourself and help you move to a better place where you can put your socks on right!! 

If you want to get accountable to a goal you have, please join us in the AMAZE Yourself Summit facebook group!