David Taveras

Quick summary: I decided to talk about comfort zone, a topic that always caught my interest. I interviewed my best friend, Marylenie P. because she is one of the most insightful people that I know. I have also seen her rapidly blossom from being full of social anxiety to willingly meeting new people and traveling the world on her own so I concluded that she is the best person to interview about the topic.

Background information about interviewee:

Age: 22 years

Career: Student

Board of Study: Psychology major with a minor in Business.

Interviewer: How would you define comfort zone?

Mary: To me, comfort zone is a place where you are at ease. Don’t get me wrong, when I say place, I don’t only mean location. Yes, it could be in your grandmother’s house, but it could also be with a group of friends or even laid back with a book in your hand.

Interviewer: With that being said, do you view comfort zone as mental or physical? Why?

Mary: It can be both. Let’s say you’re in an uncomfortable situation. You might think to yourself, “Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to go home and be with my husband.” After you’re lucky enough to get out of that uncomfortable situation, you go home to your husband and you feel at ease again. That’s a physical comfort zone because you’re actually going home to your loved one. An example of a mental comfort zone would simply be going somewhere in your mind to feel calm and safe. Like if your mother-in-law won’t shut up about you letting her rearrange the furniture in your home, you might take a mental vacation to Hawaii to avoid this conversation for the 20th day in a row.

Interviewer: Where would you say your comfort zone is and why?

Mary: Well I’m pretty adventurous so I don’t like to stay in one place. I used to be super anxious though. Here’s a brief story: When I was going into college, I had to submit a paper on what my school’s motto meant to me. I won’t get too personal, but I wrote the paper about learning to step out of your comfort zone–*laughs*–Sounds familiar?

Ever since then I learned to get more comfortable and handle my anxiety in a proper way. Before then, I would let anxiety stop me from going anywhere that required me to be social. Now, I intern at an office, working with clients, and I meet new people everyday. If I didn’t push myself to be more out there, I wouldn’t be as comfortable with my job as I am now. Wait, did I say comfortable? Oh wow, I realize that it sounds counterintuitive, but you know what I mean.

Interviewer: What do you think about people who refuse to get out of their comfort zone?

Mary: Doing the same thing will eventually become predictable and boring. Not only that, but staying in one place can cause you to develop anxiety. You won’t be used to experiencing new things so when the day comes that you simply cannot avoid it, you’re more likely to freak out. Jump out of that zone willingly so that when you eventually, do not have a choice, it won’t affect you as much.

It’s understandable not to want to get out that comfort zone, but it is something that everyone should be more open to. Adhering to a certain routine because of refusal is a version of ignorance. The only way that staying in a comfort zone can be completely acceptable is if you have tried everything there is to try and decided that those things just aren’t for you.

Interviewer: What would you say to a person who is scared to get out of their comfort zone?

Mary:  It is always good to have a comfort zone, a safe place. It is never good to stay in it for too long.

I promise anyone out there, if you get out of your comfort zone, you will see life in a completely different way. At first it may be frightening, but once you get the hang of being…adventurous, for a lack of a better word, you will look back and be happy that you got out of a life routine.

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Let me begin with the simple fact that I have never interviewed anyone before. However, I decided that if I was going to write and ask someone else about comfort zone, why not try something different? I’m glad I did because it was such a new, fun experience. Aside from that, I learned a lot of new things. One of the things that the interviewee brought up was the fact that if you stay in a comfort zone for an excessively long time, there is a high possibility that you will develop anxiety. I never thought about this, but when you put it into perspective it makes a lot of sense. If you jump into something you’ve never done before, it’s natural to experience a little bit of anxiety. However, if you, for the most part, have a routine, everything will be new to you so the world will seem like something that you have to hide from, when in reality it’s something that everyone should be eager to positively explore. I was left with that good feeling that you get after learning something interesting. Interviewing Marylenie opened up my mind to new ideas about comfort zone. It also encouraged me to discover my own perspective on the matter. It taught me that you should essentially conquer the world and make everything in your comfort zone. That way, you can do a million different things and still be happy and at ease.

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