We stay in our comfort zones because we’re afraid of the unknown. Even if we aren’t exactly happy in our current situations, at least there aren’t any surprises. At least we know what we’re getting. At least we know we can handle the pain.

We’re used to the situations we’ve been stuck in. We’ve grown accustomed to the way things work. It might not be comfortable, but it’s familiar. It’s bearable. It’s survivable.

Change, on the other hand, is scary. Change is something we want to avoid, even though change might alter our lives for the better.

We’re so afraid of taking risks, because although there’s a chance change might fix everything, there’s also a chance it could make things so much worse. And we can’t handle worse. We don’t want to drop to rock bottom. We would rather keep going the way we are right now because it might be bad but it’s not that bad.

We stay in our comfort zones because we lie to ourselves about how everything is fine. Our jobs are fine. Our apartments are fine. Our relationships are fine. We don’t want to get greedy. We don’t want to ask for anything unrealistic. We want to be careful about what we wish for to avoid disappointment.

We don’t want to get our hopes up too high because we don’t want them to come crashing down. We avoid rejection and heartache and failure at all costs. We try our best to protect ourselves by smothering ourselves.

We stay in our comfort zones because we tell ourselves we aren’t ready to start anew yet. We procrastinate every single day. We come up with ridiculous excuses about why the timing isn’t right for us to make a move. We feel like there will be some magical time in the future when we’ll be ready to undertake new challenges, but if we keep putting off our potential, that day will never come. We will keep waiting and waiting without any results when we should be taking action, when we should be following through on what our heart wants.

We stay in our comfort zones because we don’t have complete faith in ourselves. We’re worried we’re not going to make it. We’re worried we won’t have what it takes to succeed. We’re worried we’re going to end up regretting our decision to try something new, when really, there’s a bigger chance we’ll regret it if we don’t try something new, if we don’t trust ourselves, if we don’t leave our old routines behind.

We stay in our comfort zones because it’s the easiest option — but it’s not the safest option.

It’s dangerous to settle. It’s dangerous to stay stuck in one place. It’s dangerous to pretend we’re fulfilled when our souls are secretly hungering for more. It’s dangerous to tell ourselves this is as good as it’s ever going to get.

We have a million different excuses to stay in our comfort zones — but we should really break free. We should really start listening to our hearts. We should really take more risks, open ourselves up to more opportunities, believe in ourselves a little bit more.