The challenges of leaving your comfort zone as a disabled person

Many disabled people can feel uncomfortable once they leave the comfort of home but leaving your comfort zone can be good for you. It can be tempting to stay within your home but when you step out of your comfort zone you open yourself up to new experiences, have the opportunity to meet new people, and can grow as a person. It can be incredibly difficult though to say goodbye to the familiar and the safe, so in this guide, we highlight some of the challenges that disabled people face when leaving their comfort zone, while also offering some helpful advice.

Abandoning your routine

One of the primary challenges that come with leaving your comfort zone as a disabled person is abandoning your routine. Many people learn to cope with their disability through a daily routine that encompasses everything from meals and medication to bathing and getting out of bed. When you leave your comfort zone, perhaps when going for a day out or visiting someone, that routine falls away. This can be alarming and make coping with normal tasks very difficult.

That doesn’t mean, however, that we should never venture far from home. While there is no avoiding certain challenges, you can take steps to make things easier. Accepting help from others is a start and if you are, for example, staying with family, speak to them beforehand about how you can incorporate elements of your routine while you are with them. It won’t be easy but try to also remember why you are stepping outside of the familiar, the pleasures of socialising, and the benefits of getting out of the house. If nothing else, you will appreciate the life you have made for yourself all the more and will be thankful for home comforts.

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Losing your safety net

We all want to feel safe and when you live with a disability, this desire is only amplified. The comfort zone of our homes or what is familiar to us becomes a safety net, something we can rely on every day. We might not always think about it but when that safety net is no longer there, we realise how much we depend on it and miss it. Losing your safety net can be an uncomfortable proposition and can easily induce feelings of anxiety, let alone present physical challenges.

In situations like this, it never hurts to keep things in perspective. For example, why did you decide to leave home today? It was probably to experience something new, spend time with friends or family, and embrace more of the world around you. Life is difficult and taking risks is scary, but it’s in these challenging moments that we progress as people.

Carolyn, writing for HuffPost, has shared that taking risks is something that can help us grow: “As children, we're natural risk-takers. But as we get older and learn to fear failure, we start holding ourselves back and attempting fewer new things. This comes at a high cost to our tremendous potential for lifelong growth and transformation.”

If you have decided to venture out for a day somewhere new and start to miss your safety net, remember to breathe, try and calm yourself, and believe that you are capable of tackling challenges and that your home comforts won’t be gone forever. It’s not always a case of mind over matter – there is no denying the very real difficulties that a disability can present our bodies with – but beyond accepting help from those around you, having a positive mentality can make a big difference.

New obstacles 

Stepping outside of our comfort zone inevitably presents new obstacles for us to overcome. This is one of the major challenges and it arrives in a number of different ways. You have likely crafted a life at home that is tailored around your very specific disability in order to make your own unique life easier. The world you have created for yourself is there to help you avoid the obstacles that your disability presents or at least make them less of a challenge.

For example, you might have put into place all manner of steps to make going to the bathroom easier – it might just be the familiarity of the route to get to the toilet that makes life so much simpler at home – knowing your home like the back of your hand is a huge benefit. However, using a bathroom at a hotel, restaurant, or house you are unfamiliar with (even if they are accessible) can be a new obstacle for you to overcome. It’s thoughts like these that can be so off-putting and prevent people from deciding to venture away from the safety of home.

As difficult as it might be – and of course everyone is different – obstacles are there to be overcome and it would be a shame to miss out on so much of what life has to offer for fear of failure. Life asks so much of disabled people, courage to face challenges is just one of them, as is the willingness to struggle. Not all obstacles are insurmountable, however, and many can be made smaller with a little planning and preparation. You can’t foresee all eventualities but before any venture, think about some of the obstacles that might come your way and how you can make life easier for yourself. Speak to the people involved and make some arrangements to allow for your disability.

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Confronting negative attitudes

Not everyone you meet will have a positive attitude towards disabilities and this can be a hard thing to confront when you have left the supportive and understanding environment of your home comfort zone. Speaking to us about the biggest challenges she faces as a disabled person when leaving her comfort zone, blogger Kerry Thompson highlighted the attitudes of others while also offering some advice:

“Having muscular dystrophy, a progressive muscle wasting disease, you might think my biggest challenge is my disability but in actual fact, it’s the physical environment around me not being accessible that can be my biggest challenge, along with the negative attitudes of people towards disabilities. 

“If I was to give any advice for anyone going through similar challenges it is to connect with others who are going through similar situations/challenges, being able to talk to peers who know exactly what you’re going through can be a great emotional support network. It’s important to also remember someone else’s attitude about disabilities is sometimes down to not fully understanding what life can be like, educating people can only be a good thing when it comes to disabilities and changing the attitudes of how people view disabilities.”

Becoming more vulnerable

No one likes to feel vulnerable and having a disability can make one feel this way often. The comfort zone that we erect around us is there to help us feel strong and safe, so when we step out of that place of comfort, we have to allow ourselves to become vulnerable. From physical vulnerabilities like falling or hurting ourselves to emotional vulnerabilities when interacting with others, it can be very daunting. There is no escaping the reality of such feelings when outside of your comfort zone, so the trick is accepting the fact and learning to be comfortable with it.

Your home life may have made you feel like you are invulnerable but that isn’t the truth and that’s okay. You are human, just like everyone else, and allowing yourself to be vulnerable can actually lead to great things. From connecting with others to developing a better understanding of yourself, it’s good to be in touch with your emotions and be reminded of your limitations – this applies to anyone, disability or otherwise. You can try and wrap yourself up in cotton wool but is that the life you want to lead? Take care of yourself, of course, embrace the comfort of home, yes, but also be okay with being vulnerable from time to time.

Having to rely more on others

Some people find it hard to rely on others, even when it would be to their advantage. It’s not always easy accepting that you need help, that you can’t do everything yourself. But acknowledging the fact that you could use a helping hand, especially when it comes to your disability, is necessary. Outside of your comfort zone, the things that you could normally take care of yourself might not be so easy, it might be necessary to ask for help from a friend or loved one. Asking for help isn’t a weakness, accepting the love of another is itself a form of strength.

The charity HNC Support International has shared this advice for those who find it difficult to accept help: “You don’t have to wait for someone to give you help to practice receiving. Whenever you need help, just ask for it. Don’t worry about being rejected. Give others an opportunity to help you. If they aren’t the one, move on to the next.”

So, next time you are out and about and are struggling with something due to your disability, know that it’s okay to ask for help. Reach out to whoever you are with or even to a stranger and embrace the help that is offered. The world is a much better place when we come together and there are people who want to help. Accepting help doesn’t make you ‘helpless’ but it might make doing new things a little bit easier.

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Challenges for disabled people leaving their comfort zone

• Abandoning your routine
• Losing your safety net
• New obstacles
• Confronting negative attitudes
• Becoming more vulnerable
• Having to rely more on others

There are certainly significant challenges for disabled people leaving their comfort zones but hopefully, this article has shown that there are ways to navigate these difficulties. With planning, a positive mentality, and accepting help from others, the idea of leaving the safety of home can become a little more manageable.

Handicare is here to help you with your disability by providing stairlift solutions for those with limited mobility. If you are interested in getting a stairlift to help manage your disability or just want to enquire about stairlift prices, we would love to help.

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