Comfort Zone

So, last night I was talking to one of my dear friends on the phone and we were talking about this friend of hers who's been so mysterious and complicated. The story, by the way, is confidential, but let me tell you another story that can show you the gist of "comfort zone" discussion I had with my friend.

There was this friend of mine, who I found earlier last semester that he had been cheating off his lecturers in his class assignments. I found out that he took my paper, which was in English, and then just translated it outright to Malay, thinking that the lecturer might not notice that those two papers were the same, except in the different language. When investigating, we learned that he had been doing this since his diploma (until masters degree!). So, basically I was asking myself, how come he did that again and again and again without facing any repercussions? Well, the answer was, that's it, there were no repercussions!

You see, when people keep doing a certain thing - well, a bad thing - and never get caught or always survive the deed, he or she creates a comfort zone catering to the bad action. The person keeps doing it saying to themselves, "Well, I'll survive anyway..." My friend kept copying off his papers from other people's works thinking that, "Nobody caught me anyways..."

So, I was thinking of a solution. It might be drastic, but it might be the one from only few guaranteed way to make them step out of the comfort zone and man up to do the right thing. The solution is, to create a bomb. The bomb can be something that really frightens the "comfort-zoners" and make them go out from the zone. In my friend's case, the bomb is easily the direct consequence of his actions, which is the instructor knowing his deeds and barred him from the class. What's the bomb for comfort zone of a person who keeps cheating on his wife? Then that would be divorce and a million-ringgit suit. What's the bomb for comfort zone of a kid who never listens to his mother? That would be that kid has to afford his daily spending on his own.

The thing is, the bombs can be too drastic that people are afraid to actually create them. But then, if you want the person in the comfort zone change, then a bomb should be created and an "explosion" should be triggered.