Leaving a comfort zone is really a matter of courage.
In the movie "The Shawshank Redemption", there is a small character, prisoner Lao Bu (played by James Whitmore), a veteran prisoner who has been imprisoned for 71 years, and his story makes me remember very deeply.
In that place of violence and bloodshed, inmate Lao Bu was the only one who made Shawshank Prison his home.
In order not to be released from prison, he even wants to remain in Shawshank Prison through killing, full of fear and confusion about freedom.
How could a man be so eager to be a prisoner? So addicted to squatting in prison? This is really unimaginable to those of us who are accustomed to freedom.
Coincidentally, another prisoner who had been in Shoshank Prison for nearly 40 years, Red Old, had the same idea as the prisoner Lao Bu.
The difference is that Red is not as poisoned as Lao Boo.
01
Prisoner Lao Bu has been squatting in Shawshank Prison for 70 years, from a young man to an old man, sending away 6 wardens.
Now the librarian of the entire Shawshank Prison, no longer have to live in a cold cell (perhaps too old to be afraid of death), the daily work is to push a cart from cell to cell to deliver books, but also easy.
By the way, he also has a crow as a companion, and the stable old cloth always has a kind smile on his face and has a good relationship with everyone in the prison.
If it weren't for the Fact that this was Shawshank Prison, no one would have thought that Lao Bu would be a murderer when he was young, he would be a kind old grandfather.
But one day, the amiable Old Cloth actually kidnapped his usually good fellow prisoner with a sharp knife, bleeding from his neck and threatening to kill him.
The news soon spread throughout Shawshank Prison, and the kind old cloth suddenly became so violent that it shocked everyone, including the prison guards, who rushed to the rescue.
After some persuasion from everyone, Lao Bu finally let go of his fellow prisoners in grief and explained why he wanted to commit a crime.
It turned out that the prisoner Lao Bu had been released on parole and could be released from prison and regained his freedom, but Lao Bu could not accept this result.
He didn't want to get out of jail!
Lao Bu has become accustomed to prison life, he can only live well in prison, here is his familiar environment, there are old wives crows to relieve boredom, as well as food and drink, stay here is very comfortable.
Going outside means leaving your comfort zone and re-adapting to your new environment, which is unthinkable for Old Boo, who has spent 70 years in prison.
The way to keep Old Boo in Shawshank is to re-offend, commit a big crime, become a dangerous person, so that the prison does not let itself go.
At this time, a fellow inmate came to announce the good news and congratulate Lao Bu on his parole, which made Lao Bu, who wanted to stay in Shawshank Prison through re-offending, lose control of his emotions, so the hostage-taking scene occurred.
After being prevented from committing a crime by everyone, Lao Bu was still released as scheduled, but his mood was heavy and abnormal when his body was freed.
Lao Bu could no longer adapt to the outside world, and was alone and at the behest of others all day, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not find a comfortable way of life.
In the end, he ended his precious life in a small hotel.
Lao Bu was killed by freedom, which forced him to leave the comfort zone of his life, leave the familiar library and the crow he had raised for many years, and contact the world of strangers.
The pain and suffering of not being able to adapt made Lao Bu's fragile heart lose the courage to live.
02
Regarding the suicide of prisoner Lao Boo, another prisoner who has been held in Shawshank Prison for decades, Old Red, said it very thoroughly and felt the same way.
Lao Bu was institutionalized, and everything about Shawshank Prison was not familiar with it, but slowly adapted, and finally became inseparable from them.
Isn't this the whole process of forming a person's comfort zone?
Old Red himself was a successful institutionalizer, with a wide network of contacts in prison who could get cigarettes and gadgets that no one else could get, so he was highly respected, a needy person, and a valuable man in Shawshank.
Old Red is always surrounded by a group of little fans, everyone bets together on who will cry first, tell a meat strip when eating, and scream when the hostess shakes her hair when watching a movie...
Life within the walls is regular and comfortable.
When his best friend, andy, a banker, tells him that he has the perfect plan to escape from prison and wants Red to go out with him, Old Red refuses.
The reason given was the same as that of Old Boo, that he had lived well in Shawshank Prison, and that the outside world might not be for him.
On the day of his release, Old Red stood in front of the gate of Shawshank Prison for a long time, with many thoughts, and spent his whole life in the wall, turning off the lights, sleeping, getting up, working, and receiving education every day...
The outside world was completely unknown, and he didn't know how long he would survive walking out of this gate.
Leaving the comfort zone, Red was also very confused, not knowing how to integrate into this strange world, unable to find a reason and way to live, not knowing what to do when he woke up every day.
Often alone in a dimly lit hotel, silently staring at the window, sitting for half a day without saying a word.
And he didn't have any friends outside who could speak, because his friends were all inside the walls of Shawshank Prison. I seem to have gained freedom, but in fact I have become more lonely.
Fortunately, his friend Andy in prison left him a letter, and if he didn't know how to live after he got out of prison, he would go to the beach to find him, where a friend was waiting.
This gave old Red hope of living!
03
Old Bu and Red have one thing in common, that is, they have been detained for a very long time, basically from the beginning of adulthood, fully adapted to prison life.
And the outside world is so strange that only childhood memories remain.
In Shawshank Prison, they are all needed people, have their own friends, make small contributions to others, and are psychologically comfortable.
Every day you don't have to think about what you should do, just hear the whistle and know what the next life is, day after day, year after year.
Prison life is like a boiled frog, which has completely killed their desire to escape from prison over the years, and has become extremely adaptable prison people, forming their own comfort zone.
Began to become inseparable from the prison, afraid of the unknown world outside.
From this, we can see how difficult it is for a person to change the status quo after establishing a comfort zone.
In the comfort zone, we feel safe, regular, valuable, self-successful, unwilling to accept things outside the circle, feel fear when stepping out of the circle, and even leave the circle without knowing how to survive.
Just like our grandparents, smartphones that seem convenient and fun to us may be a terrible problem when they arrive, preferring to use an elderly machine for a lifetime rather than learn how to use a smartphone.
There are also parents who are accustomed to staying in the countryside, who come to the city to live is restless, and even fear of going to the toilet, the whole is overwhelmed, and they are as happy as primary school students on vacation, and they would rather stay in their hometown for a lifetime than move to the city to live.
I have to say that the comfort zone of life formed over decades has a really stronger impact on a person than genetics.
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