Day 67: Escaping Comfort
Life is full of uncomfortable situations or events in which you are apprehensive to partake it. This could be because of social anxiety, introversion, or the general dislike of social situations. As an introvert, most events I go to are outside of my comfort zone.
Comfort zones are so confining, are they not? They creep in, keep you from going and doing certain things, and in the end usually prohibit you from experiencing something incredible or at least fun. We all have them and each one may be different from the next, but they are still restricting no matter who you are.
People like to be comfortable. It's as simple as that, people enjoy knowing what they are going to do and knowing that they will be safe doing it. I, for one, enjoy being comfortable. Comfort zones are nice and warm and cozy, it's like drinking a warm cup of tea wrapped up in a blanket.
While there's nothing wrong with enjoying this comfort, once you look outside you may begin to realize just how confining they are. Stepping out can be one of the most freeing steps of your life. Uncomfortable...yes. Scary...most likely. But when we step outside of our comfort zones, putting down the tea and blanket, we may realize just how many amazing opportunities we have missed.
I am not a huge fan of stepping outside of my comfort zone, it's scary and uncomfortable and overall not an enjoyable feeling. However, I have recently been trying to make it a habit to step out as often as I can. This has led to many opportunities that I would otherwise have missed out on had I not been willing to step out.
Today I had the amazing opportunity to watch part of a football game from the presidential suite because I had stepped out of my comfort zone at the beginning of the semester and joined a group at my college. Had I not taken that first uncomfortable step, I would never have had that opportunity.
It is really amazing to see where you can go when you defy your limitations. Allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable stretches your comfort zones and the next time you go to do the original event that was a little scary the first time, you will no longer feel that hesitation. We grow when we stretch beyond what we are capable of doing now.
Yes it is nice to never have to be uncomfortable, who want's to voluntarily put themselves through discomfort? Yet we will never grow if we never put ourselves into new situations. In order to experience new opportunities and discover new chances, we must break out of our comfort zones and race towards discomfort. Only then will we see what we were really missing out on the whole time.
Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt
