Do you ever wonder what really is real life. Assuming that we are real and not a computer dreaming, have we attained the human condition we should all aspire to if we live in peace, well fed with time to indulge in the arts and creativity? Or is real life a daily battle against the elements to grow enough food to survive, pitting your wits and using your strength to hunt and kill enough to feed your family. Even worse, is real life facing death at any moment as you are attacked and invaded and must defend yourself and your people?

Maybe our earliest ancestors led a peaceful life, with a human population so small nobody needed to fight over land. Life was in tune with nature and the seasons, social life was chatting about the mammoth hunt and telling tales around the fire as you ate mammoth steaks.

If you are bored living in the comfort zone you can leave it to trek to one of the poles or up Mount Everest. The bravest people are those who leave their own countries and take their medical and other skills to war zones. If they manage to return home safely how mundane must our ordinary lives seem.

If Aunty Joan complains she has to wait for her hospital appointment perhaps the adventurer will suggest she is lucky her hospital has not been destroyed by a missile attack. If the nephew complains he could not get his favourite cereal at the supermarket, they might point out he is lucky to have food at all. If the adventurer’s sister tells him her anxiety has been bad he might point out they don’t have time for anxiety in the Gaza Strip or Ukraine.

You don’t have to leave your own country or even your own home to be plunged out of your comfort zone. If you work for the emergency services you will certainly see real life. For ordinary members of the public storms, flash floods and wild fires can mean destruction of their home and security as well as all their possessions.

Some of our chat at home or over coffee with friends will be about the awful state of the world and local dramas on the news, but most of us still enjoy gossip about work and our neighbourhood that would mean nothing to anyone outside our little circles. Any trip to the shops or day out becomes a dramatic story.

In the comfort zone

It was so windy last night all the food bins were in the middle of the road.

My patio chairs blew onto the lawn!

I saw Kate on the bus on Tuesday.

Oh how is she?

Fine, got her appointment at last.

I thought I was never going to get here, the puddles, I tried to dodge them but still got my shoes wet.

Next door have got a leak…

That white car has been parked outside my house for three days now…

Have you started watching that new series?

Was that the bloke that was in that other series?

No, you’re thinking of that other chap who was on Strictly…

Are we hiding away from real life or keeping civilisation alive?

Have you ventured outside the comfort zone or suddenly found yourself in the danger zone?

The perfect peaceful zone…