We all have different Comfort Zones. We have sensory and other physical Comfort Zones. We have emotional Comfort Zones. We have the foods we’re used to eating, the people we’re used to socializing with. We like the music we like and the books we like and the movies we like.
As artists, we also have a creative Comfort Zone. These are the stories we like to write. It’s the type of story that makes sense to us, the ideas, styles, genres, tropes, character types etc. that we tend toward.
The Comfort Zone is a good place.
The Comfort Zone is a calm place, and it’s often in calm where do do our best work, with our deepest flow.
The Creative Comfort Zone is where we find our Zone of Excellence – the work we excel at, as well where we find the dynamic Zone of Genius – the work we are truly the best at.
The Comfort Zone is where we find our authentic selves.
But…..
The Comfort Zone is also where we can get stuck, where we can stagnate. This is anything but comfortable.
We need our Comfort Zones. Please don’t think I’m suggesting otherwise. I’m also not saying that everyone NEEDS to expand their creative Comfort Zones (or any Comfort Zone).
It’s entirely possible to be wildly successful in our Comfort Zones. It all comes down to how success is personally defined. We can also be creative in all kinds of wonderful ways here. If you’re truly joyful and fulfilled in your Comfort Zone, then there’s no reason to push out of that. If you feel you could reach for some higher growth, then you might consider widening your zone boundaries.
Think of your creative Comfort Zone as your universe. Slowly, with tiny increments, the universe is widening, deepening, expanding in every sense. It’s so mind blowing it’s almost impossible to conceptualize.
This is exactly what our Comfort Zones can do, and this expansion can strengthen us.
When we stay doing the same times of exercise, they get less effective. We get used to them and they can no longer challenge our bodies, and no longer strengthen us. When we push the edges, we get stronger.
I don’t believe this is true for all Comfort Zones, but I have seen it to be true in my creative development.
In challenge lies growth. This is where the Zone of Genius happens.
It’s okay if this is not a sudden expansion.
Incremental Expansion of The Creative Comfort Zone
We can’t turn up to the gym one day, used to lifting a ten-pound bar, and decide to push the Comfort Zone with a fifty-pound weight. That’s a sure bet for injury.
We can’t be used to writing short sci-fi flash fiction and expect to pull off writing a ten book series of epic tome space operas, even though it’s technically in the same genre.
But we can edge the boundaries, we can make incremental changes. The weightlifter will get used to 12 pounds, then fifteen, and so on. The aspiring epic saga writer will start with longer short form narratives, then move to longer books, learning the structures of storytelling involved in longer works, and how to weave complex plot threads. Perhaps a novella, then a 60K novel. The sci-fi flash writer may of course jump straight into the 150K novel, but this will still be a learning as they go process. Slowly, one scene at a time, one revision pass at a time.
If you want to expand your creative Comfort Zone into writing a new genre, for example, you might start with a short story in this new genre, or a chapter of a potential novel. You’re just trying it on for size and fit, seeing what feels good and where you might like to push yourself.
Because we all need to push if we want to grow. Even if it doesn’t feel comfortable at first.
Get used to the discomfort at the edges of the Comfort Zone. Your stories will expand and deepen, your craft will improve, and your creative universe will be enormous.
A Disclaimer About Pushing Limits and Different Comfort Zones
This article is only referring to the creative Comfort Zone as it relates to our writing. For many of us, pushing against any Comfort Zone thresholds can cause such intense discomfort that we’re unable to even think about anything, let alone personal growth.
I am neurodivergent. If I’m at or beyond my thresholds of what feels good in my body, in my environment, in my emotions, there’s no point me even trying to do anything before restoring those other Comfort Zones. Even if you’re not neurodivergent, I’ll never suggest anyone push their comforts in any area beyond what they know to be their true limits.
