Our addictions and mental health issues thrive and fester from our inability or unwillingness to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. Our depression, anxiety and addictions rely on our staying comfortable and complacent in a place of fear and self-destructiveness. Even though we’re experiencing tremendous pain, because it is familiar to us, because it is what we know best, that becomes our comfort zone. We develop repeating cycles, patterns and life issues. We become stagnant, and we allow our pain to go unchecked. We fear the unknown, we fear the future, and we fear uncertainty. We fear sobriety and all the hard work it entails. We would rather stay in the pain and discomfort of what’s familiar to us than push ourselves out of our comfort zones into unfamiliar territory.

It is outside of our comfort zones that we experience the most growth and expansion. It is by pushing ourselves that we learn and develop into higher versions of ourselves. It is by recognizing the limitations of our comfort zones that we transcend our suffering and become the most authentic, most enlightened version of who we can be. It is outside of our comfort zones where we access our infinite potential and the incredible possibilities for manifesting the lives we want. When we allow ourselves to be comfortable with the discomfort that leads to growth, we empower ourselves to find the fulfillment and satisfaction in life that we’ve been depriving ourselves of.

Our comfort zones, as familiar as they are, are our limitations. They feed the limiting beliefs we hold about ourselves and our potential for healing. Our comfort zones keep us locked inside patterns of self-deprecation and fears of inadequacy. It’s easier to stay drunk and perpetuate our belief that we’re doomed for unhappiness than it is to do the hard work to get sober and love ourselves. The process of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones requires a great deal of patience and self-nurturing, things we’ve abandoned in order to prioritize our addictions. We want answers to our problems and ways to ease our pain. We want instant relief and immediate gratification. We don’t want to sit in the discomfort that comes with sobriety and with facing our emotions head on.

When we’re patient, compassionate and understanding with ourselves, we start to gently push ourselves to try a little bit harder, to reach a little bit further, to overcome that addictive urge, to uphold our abstinence. We develop our willpower and our resilience. We strengthen our commitment to ourselves and to our recovery. We abandon the harsh self-judgment the compounds our limiting beliefs about ourselves. We start to recognize our inherent worthiness, our value and our lovability. We tap into our unused potential and start making use of our extraordinary gifts. Recognizing the limitations of our comfort zones helps give us the courage and the self-awareness to become more than what we ever thought we could be.

Let Bayview Recovery be your home for healing and your first stop on a lifelong journey of growth and fulfillment. Call 888-570-7154 today.