The comfort zone is a beautiful place. It’s where your life feels familiar and easy. There’s low anxiety and stress in your daily routine.

It’s normal to never want to leave this state of mind. When life is comfortable, why would you want to change anything, right?

Personally, I like being in my comfort zone. But I always remind myself that I shouldn’t stay there for too long.

When I start to become complacent, I know it’s time to go outside and be uncomfortable again. And you should too, so you can prevent these eight things from happening.

1. Your skills won’t improve.

I have a friend who sings well. Her comfort zone is being part of the church choir. Despite our encouragement, she never dared to join contests, nor even try to moonlight as a singer.

Her voice still sounds good. But unlike before, she now finds it difficult to sing the latest pop songs; after many years of just singing in church.

2. You won’t discover your hidden talents.

A few years ago, a friend started a blog. After reading a few of his posts, I told him that he’s a good writer and story teller. He was surprised by the compliment.

Later on, he confessed that back in college, he wanted to explore creative writing. But he never did because he thought it would be difficult.

3. The superficial becomes significant to you.

When your life has no challenges and there are no obstacles that you must hurdle, inconsequential things become exciting.

Suddenly, because you’re bored with your life, celebrity gossip becomes an important matter. Because nothing is really happening in your life, you crave for telenovelas to break the monotony of your day.

4. You feel uninspired.

Imagine living in a beautiful home. It’s nice at first, but things can become quite ordinary and familiar after a while. One day, everything around you becomes uninteresting.

When boredom sets in, you’ll realize that you have a choice — be secure and comfortable inside, or explore what’s outside. Unfortunately, the longer you delay deciding, the less inspired you will be to choose adventure.

5. You forget what makes you unique.

Outside the comfort zone is where people discover their individuality. When you don’t go out there, you’ll soon become just another face in the crowd who’s simply drifting through life.

Finding self-fulfillment becomes hard because you’re stuck at doing ordinary things. Eventually, you start to think that you’re a nobody.

6. Fear controls your way of life.

I know someone who doesn’t know how to ride a bike. When asked, he says that he’s always been afraid of falling and hurting himself. It’s a simple fear, but with profound effects.

He’s afraid to crash, so he doesn’t drive. He’s afraid to hurt himself, so he doesn’t play any sports. And because he’s afraid to get lost, he doesn’t really travel much.

7. Achieving important life goals takes longer.

Anyone who invests in the stock market knows how uncomfortable it is to watch prices go up and down. Find an entrepreneur and you’ll find someone who has uncomfortably lost sleep because their business is not making money.

However, investors and entrepreneurs are the ones who eventually achieve financial freedom faster. They’re the ones who eventually retire young and rich.

8. You’ll have a lot of regrets.

American author Les Brown once wrote:

The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry our their dream.

Living a life that others expect of you is a comfort zone. It’s a place where you don’t get criticized. However, choosing this kind of life will often lead to the most common regret that people have in life.

And that is failing to live a life that’s true to oneself because they were afraid to be judged by others.