Trapped in my own mental conditioning

Thanks to a project that I am currently handling, I’ve been forced to put aside my usual readings and research a little on neuroscience; the human brain, the amygdala and comfort zone.

The amygdala is an almond-shaped, small little component in our brain that works like a gatekeeper shutting out change and unfamiliar situations; it confines us to our comfort zone. Researchers say that when we step out of our comfort zone, it creates fear in us. The more stress and fear we develop, the greater the amount of neurotransmitters the amygdala will release to freeze us and stop us from stepping out.

Highly successful people have been known to step out of their comfort zones routinely to achieve what they want. If we dare to go against the amygdala, it results in the release of adrenaline or epinephrine hormones that will enable us to achieve feats which have been regarded as super human effort, such as lifting a car with our bare hands! Really? Can meh? Well, some researchers say the comfort zone is just a false mental conditioning that gives us an unfounded sense of security.

You people know I’ve been wanting to make a change to my career, my life but I don’t seem to be making much progress in this. Life has not changed much in the last six months and I am still running my design business as a going concern. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve been so used to my lifestyle and am actually happy to stay where I am. I seem to be giving myself a lot of excuses to avoid the change. Is my amygdala preventing me from stepping out of my comfort zone or my cognitive dissonance playing tricks on me?

Is there really an invisible gatekeeper turning away propositions for me to change or is this mental conditioning self-imposed? If I really want to see major changes in my life, I have to ignore the neurotransmitters and stimulate the release of my adrenaline hormones. Friends, if you do see this ostrich’s head stuck in the hole on the ground, can you kindly yank it out? Just don’t yank out my feathers as well, that can be quite painful.