to break out of one's comfort zone
- idiom
- Informal
:
salir de la zona de confort
- What will you do today to break out of your comfort zone in order to do something different so that you can reap?
Examples
-
He realized that to advance his career, he needed to break out of his comfort zone and network with new people.
-
To achieve personal growth, she decided to break out of her comfort zone by trying new activities every weekend.
-
In order to improve her public speaking skills, Mary was determined to break out of her comfort zone by joining a local debate club.
Synonyms
203
5.6
To put yourself in a situation to experience something new or difficult
5
3.7
To learn new things and try new experiences
1
3.7
To look for new, exciting experiences that may be risky
1
4.2
To try new things to stop feeling bored and stuck
To get out of the same boring routine
Think in a new way instead of your usual way
How Challenging
- Informal
1
7.3
56
3.2
- Informal
4
3.5
1
6.9
102
1.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
break + out + of + one + comfort + zone
The phrase is compositionally built: 'break out of' conveys escaping or leaving, and 'comfort zone' literally denotes an area of ease or familiarity, so together they mean leaving familiar, easy conditions to try something challenging. This metaphorical pairing is predictable and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the overall meaning.
Etymology
Break out of one's comfort zone creates a clear picture: imagine someone inside a cosy circle called the comfort zone and then pushing hard to break out through the edge. So it means 'to leave a safe, familiar place and try new or difficult things to grow'.