comfort zone

so the questions i’d like to pose tonight are: what does “comfort zone” mean in a post-pandemic world? did covid actually manage to help us live a little slower? what does it mean to find comfort in this particular moment?

for people who have had the privilege to travel around the world for most of their lives, they will undoubtedly find these times challenging — no more weekend getaways to bali, winter pilgrimages to japan and the list goes on and on… we realise that we are stuck in where we live. but it is precisely this realisation in itself that i find very comforting. i am of course, addressing people from a certain socio-economic background and not those who are struggling to even put dinner on the table.

when i lived in europe, i tried to visit a new place at least a weekend per month, just to get out of london and what i thought was my “comfort zone” — whether that’s going to paris for the long weekend or attending a music festival in an abandoned castle in romania for a week (mainly cause they were much cheaper than the western european ones and just as good, if not better). people always tell you that you need to get out of your “comfort zone” and try new things, and trust me, i’m very good at it.

i’ll bungee jump, cycle across the desert, and hitchhike in india. no problem. but staying in one place? that was what getting out of my “comfort zone” meant. so of course when covid hit, i lost my bearing a little, much like a lot of people out there. my husband and i managed to get back to hong kong from thailand before they announced that we had to quarantine upon arrival. imagine what shock we experienced back then — now i’ll gladly take 2 weeks of self-quarantine!

for the next six months, as hong kong added more restrictions around the city, the world witnessed one of the largest global pandemics ever recorded. travelling is no longer something that we can take for granted. freedom of movement is a luxury in many countries as they went into lockdown.

so how do we get out of our “comfort zone” now? how do we manifest all the potential adventures we still want to embark on? is it even ethical to consider these desires of ours when so many people are dying daily around the world?

this reminds me of the choice dilemma experiments whereby various studies have shown that when people have more options, they tend to feel less happy, perhaps thinking that they’re missing out on something. i think i would have been in that demographic of people who have serious fomo (fear of missing out). but because of covid, i am learning to get out of my “comfort zone”, learning to stay in a place and be still and happy with it.

routines ground us, the way roots ground trees. our daily actions and habits determine how we spend our days and eventually our lives. i used to underestimate the merits of routines, thinking that they’re there to make everyone a little less alive. but my perspective has changed over the past year and a half.

it is comforting to know that i can be in one place and not get bored. it is comforting to know that when i do get bored, i don’t need to escape. it is comforting to know that when i don’t escape, i have time to develop myself and be there for my friends and family. it is comforting to know that my beetroot and tomato plants are growing slowly but surely. it is comforting to know that i can enjoy the beaches and mountains in hong kong as much as those in thailand and nepal. it is comforting to know that i still have so many books that i want to read, so many movies that i still want to watch. it is comforting to know that my morning espresso routine lights up the rest of my day. it is comforting to bake a loaf of bread. it is comforting to know that i am zooming with my friends and family back home more because they have more free time, and so do i.

well, just slightly. i still have one foot left inside my “comfort zone”.