We all have our very own comfort, stretch and panic zones, in different domains of life. We are so uncomfortable and overwhelmed that we can not make any progress. We have the typical fight or flight reaction: we either want to run away, fight the situation or we freeze, i.e. We are in constant alert mode, sleep poorly or not at all. When we are in the panic zone we are scared, distressed, overwhelmed. If someone else asks us to stretch ourselves and we are not ready or even afraid to do so, we would easily slip into the Panic zone instead, or demand to go back to our much more familiar and less overwhelming comfort zone. Usually we take the decision ourselves to stretch ourselves in order to stay in this zone during a challenge. In our stretch zone we don’t feel overwhelmed, but excited, energized and motivated. When we are in our stretch zone we push ourselves, we challenge ourselves with something relatively new or unknown. We can feel trapped if we would like to change something but don’t know how. The negative effect of staying in our comfort zone is that we can become bored by doing or thinking the same things. It is the place where we can gather our strength, recover and “fill our cup”. The positive effect of staying in our comfort zone is that we feel comfortable, safe. – Either way, we are not defining a goal and not taking any step. This reason can be related or not related at all with the language itself: it can be that we are convinced that we are not good at learning a language or that it is not one of our top priorities. For example, if we decide not to learn a new language because we find it too difficult or we don’t like it, it’s not that we couldn’t learn it, it is because we are not motivated to change, to invest in this effort for a reason. Some people think that they thrive in the comfort zone, but the truth is that they stay in that zone for a reason. If we stay too long in our comfort zone, we can become complacent and find little motivation or desire to change. We recognize patterns and feel comfortable and confident in our performance. When we are in our comfort zone, activities are familiar. What you wish you would have known earlier….Letture per espatriati, ragazzi di terza cultura etc.Lectures pour expatriés et enfants de troisième culture.Talks organized by Ute for the British School in the Netherlands.

Stretch zone costs